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Pearls of Thought, 

RELIGIOUS AXD PHILOSOPHICAL, 

Gathered from i 

Old Authors. 

• * 

"All men r.ro bnsy seeking' 'goodly pearls,' — one would be rich, 
another would be learned, another wonld be beloved : but the majority 
are imposed upon, and take up with counterfeits for pearls. A man 
may buy his pearl too dear, but not that pearl of great price — which is 
everlasting happiness-" — Jeremy Taylou. 



New York : 
Delisser & Procter, 508 Broadway. 
1859. 



?Nn 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, m the year 1858. 

By Stanford & Delisser, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States 
for the Southern District of New York. 

/ " . * ( ■ . . > * r> f ' > i '■ . J 



RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL, 



Gathered from 



"All men aro busy seeking 'goodly pearl3,' — one -would be rich, 
another would be learned, another would be beloved : but the majority 
are imposed upon, and take up with counterfeits for pearls. A man 
may buy his pearl too dear, but not that pearl of great price — which ia 
everlasting happiness." — Jeeemy Taylox. 



New York : 



1859. 



Entered, according 1 to Act of Congress, m the year 1S58. 

By Stanford Si Delissf.r, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United State* 
for the Southern District of New York. 



Apology. 



%zi ii!L:'<r a tat-." — .tsxifT TaK.:s.. 



Oxe of the worthies of olden time — 
Arthur "Warwick — possessed and im- 
proved many more "spare minutes" 
in Lis days of quiet contemplation than 
it is possible for us to secure, if even 
we had the disposition, in these stirring 
times. As an incentive in this direc- 
tion, the following gleanings from the 
old nelds of sacred literature and learn- 
ing have been garnered up. Old books, 
like old wines, have often been found 
the better for their age ; so the lover oi 
good books, when in quest of choice lit- 
erarv aliment, usual.lv consults the 



4 Apology. 

oracles of yore — the masters of our 
English prose and poesy. A quiet 
corner in a library, or some sequester- 
ed by-path, free from the turmoil of city 
life, and the strife of tongues, are the 
fitting places for the companionship of 
a volume like the present. Thus to con 
over these piquant and quaint passages 
of patient thought, and pious medita- 
tion, one can scarcely fail of deriving 
pleasure and profit by communing with 
such philosophic minds. 

Of the multitudes who willingly sur- 
render themselves to the sweet enchant- 
ment of the " world's great dramatist," 
few, comparatively, delight to pore 
over the majestic pages of our Shaks- 
peare in theology — to catch the inspi- 
ration of his "thought sublime," or seek 
to be instructed by his profound and 
sagacious teaching, or soothed by his 
divine philosophy. Sacred learning is 
among the most elevating and pure of 



Apology. 5 

intellectual pursuits, — it qualifies us for 
both worlds ; and these thoughts, max- 
ims, and aphorisms, are among its spoils. 
Many a suggestive thought, long bur- 
ied in the dusty folios of the schoolmen, 
is thus exhumed, and rendered fertile 
of interest to many appreciative minds. 
Our "pearls" have been collected from 
the writings of such authors as Jeremy 
Collier, Owen Feltham, Bishop Hall, 
Thomas Fuller, Sir Thomas Browne, 
John Donne, Francis Quarles, Pascal, 
Fenelon, Jeremy Taylor, &c. 

To meditative minds, these " Pearls 
of Thought " will supply material for 
reflection, and all such will reverently 
and lovingly cherish these relics of the 
past with grateful regard. Odd intervals 
of time cannot be devoted to better pur- 
pose than to these suggestive passages 
— while their variety constitutes them 
an epitome of good things — a library 
in miniature. Those who can appre- 



6 Apology. 

ciate the gift, will be inclined to adopt 
the words of good old Bishop Hall : 
" Blessed be God, who hath set up so 
many clear lamps in his church ; none 
but the wilfully blind can 'plead dark- 
ness : and blessed be the memory of 
those, his faithful servants, who have 
left their blood, their spirits, their lives 
in these precious pages, and have will- 
ingly wasted themselves into these en- 
during monuments to give light to 
others." F. S. 



Pearls of Thought. 



Meditation. 
Meditation is a busy search in the 
store-house of fantasy for some ideas 
of matters, to be cast in the moulds oi 
resolution into some forms of words or 
actions; in which search, when I have 
used my greatest diligence, I find this 
in the conclusion, that to meditate on 
the best is the best of meditations ; and 
a resolution to make a good end, is a 
good end of my resolution. 

Arthur WancicJc. 

The Church. 
We see in a jewellers shop, that, as 
there are pearls, and diamonds, and 



Pearls of Thought. 



other precious stones, there are files, 
cutting instruments, and many sharp 
tools for their polishing; and while 
they are in the work-house, they are 
continual neighbors to them, and come 
often under them. The Church is 
God's jewel; his work-house, where 
his jewels are polishing for his palace 
and house ; and those he especially es- 
teems, and means to make most re- 
splendent, he hath oftenest his tools 
upon. Leighton. 

Humility. 
Nothing procures love, like humility; 
nothing hate, like pride. The proud 
man walks among daggers pointed 
against him ; whereas the humble and 
the affable have the people for their 
guard, in dangers. To be humble to 
our superiors, is duty ; to our equals, 
courtesy ; to our inferiors, generosity ; 
and these, notwithstanding their lowli- 



Pearls of Thought. 



ness, carry such a sway as to command 
men's hearts. Owen Feltham. 

Love and Prayer. 
He who loves little, prays little ; he 

who loves much, prays much. 

Austin. 

Divine Inspiration. 

Ahe we inspired? Yes, without 
doubt ; but not as the prophets and 
apostles. Without the actual inspira- 
tion of the Spirit of Grace we can nei- 
ther do, nor will, nor think any good ; 
but we continually stifle the inspiration. 
God never ceases to speak, but the 
noise of the creatures without, and of 
our passions within, deafens us, and 

hinders us from hearing him. 

Fenelon. 

Divine Life. 

The secret mysteries of a divine life 

— of a new nature — of Christ formed in 

our hearts, — they cannot be written or 



10 Pearls of Thought. 

spoken. A painter that would draw a 
rose, though he may furnish some like- 
ness of it in figure and color, yet he 
can never paint the scent and fragran- 
cy, — or if he would draw a flame, he 
cannot put a constant heat into his 
colors ; he cannot make his pencil drop 
a sound. Neither are we able to en- 
close in words and letters the life, soul, 
and essence of any spiritual truths, and, 
as it were, to incorporate it in them. 

Cudworth. 

Time. 

Time is like a river, in which metals 
and solid substances are sunk, while 
chaff and straws swim upon the surface ! 

Bacon. 

Good Conscience. 

A good conscience within will be 

always better to a Christian than health 

to his navel, and marrow to his bones ; 

it will be an everlasting cordial to his 



Pearls of Thought. 11 

heart ; it will be softer to him than a 
bed of down. A good conscience is 
the best looking-glass of heaven. 

Cudworth. 

Repentance. 
Repentance is the key that unlocks 
the gate wherein sin keeps man a pris- 
oner. It is the aqua vitse to fetch 
again to itself the fainting soul. 

Feltham. 

Circumspection. 

Man is like a watch : if evening and 
morning he is not wound up with 
prayer and circumspection, he is un- 
profitable and false ; or serves to mis- 
lead. Hid. 
Faith and Works. 

They are but infidel-Christians whose 
faith and works are at war against each 
other. Faith which is right, can no 
more forbear from good works, than 
can the sun to shed abroad its glorious 



12 Pearls of Thought. 

beams, or a body of perfumes to dis- 
pense a grateful odour. Ibid, 

Prayer, 

Prayer is ever profitable : at night 
it is our covering ; in the morning it 
is our armour. Prayer should be the 
key of the day, and the lock of the 
night. Prayer sanctifies all our actions. 
He is listed in God's service and pro- 
tection, who makes it his first work to 
be enrolled by prayer, under the stand- 
ard of the Almighty. He carries an 
assistant angel with him for his help, 
who begs his benediction from above ; 
and without it he is lame and unarmed. 

Ibid, 
False Ambition. 

It is the over-curious ambition of 
many to be best, or to be none ; if they 
may not do so well as they would, they 
will not do so well as they may. Pride 
is the greatest enemy to reason, and 



Pearls of Thought. 13 

discretion the greatest opposite to pride. 
I see great reason to be ashamed of my 
pride, but no reason to be proud of my 
shame. Arthur Warwick. 

Contentment, 
I should marvel that the covetous 
man can still be poor, when the rich 
man is still covetous, but that I see a 
poor man can be content, when the 
contented man is only rich; the one 
wanting in his store, whilst the other 
is stored in his wants. I see, then, we 
are not rich or poor by what we pos- 
sess, but by what we desire. Ibid. 

Hypocrisy. 
Hypocrisy desires to seem good ra- 
ther than to be so ; honesty desires to 
be good, rather than seem so. The 
worldlings purchase reputation by the 
sale of desert ; wise men buy desert 
with the hazard of reputation. I would 



14 Pearls of Thought. 

do much to hear well, more to deserve 
well, and rather lose opinion than mer- 
it. It shall more joy me that I know 
myself what I am, than it shall grieve 
me to hear what others report me. I 
had rather deserve well without praise, 

than do ill with commendation. 

Ibid. 

Sorrow for Sin. 
As is a wound to the body, so is a 
sinful body to the soul ; the body en- 
dangered till the wound be cured, the 
soul not sound till the body's sin be 
healed, and the wound of neither can 
be cured without dressing, nor dressed 
without smarting. Let my wound 
smart by dressing, rather than my 
body die ; let my body smart by cor- 
rection, rather than my soul perish. 

im. 

The Christian's Course. 
Each true Christian is a night trav- 
eller; his life — his walk, Christ — his 



Pearls of Thought. 15 

way, and heaven — his home. His walk 
painful, his way perfect, his home 
pleasing. I will not loiter, lest I come 
short of home ; I will not wander, lest 
I come wide of home, but be content 
to travel hard and be sure I walk 
right, so shall my safe way find its end 
at home, and my painful walk make 
my home welcome. Hid. 

Remorse. 
He that will not flee from the occa- 
sions and allurements of sin, though 
they may seem never so pleasant to the 
eye or sweet to the taste, shall find 
them in the end to be more sharp than 
vinegar, more bitter than wormwood, 
more deadly than poison. Brooks. 

The Will of God. 
^TorxD we learn from Christ himself, 
in what the will of our Master consists, 
let us contemplate it in the whole tenor 



16 Pearls of Thought. 

of his instruction and wonderful life. 
Did he fulfil that will by pompous and 
formal displays of superior wisdom, — 
by austere and arrogant pretensions to 
superior righteousness, — by solicitude 
for ritual observances, — by dogmatism 
upon abstruse speculation. — by a super- 
cilious contempt of ignorance, or a fero- 
cious intolerance of error { No : but 
the will of God ; such, at least, as was 
that which he exemplified is to be found 
in lessons of virtue attractive from their 
simplicity, impressive from their ear- 
nestness, and authoritative from the 
miraculous evidence which ace 
panied them: in habits of hum: 
without meanness, and of meekness 
without pusillanimity : in unwearied 
endeavours to console the afflicted, to 
soften the prejudiced, and to encourage 
the sincere; in unshaken firmness, to 
strip the mask from pharisaical hypo- 
crites, and to quell the insolence of 



Pearls of Thought, 17 

dictatorial and deceitful guides : in 
kindness to his followers, in forgiveness 
to his persecutors, in works of the most 
unfeigned and unbounded charity to 
man. and in a spirit of the purest and 
most sublime piety to his Father and 
his God. Parr. 

Knowledge of Christ. 
I hate taken much pains to know 
every thing that was esteemed worth 
knowing amongst men ; but, with all 
my disquisitions and readings, nothing 
now remains with me, to comfort me, 
at the close of life, but this passage of 
St. Paul : "It is a faithful saying, and 
worthy of all acceptation, that Chris: 
Jesus came into the world to save sin- 
ners :' to this I cleave, and herein I 
tind rest Selden. 

Religious Progress. 
It is some hope of goodness not to 
g:ow worse : it is a part of badness nor 



Pearls of Thought. 



to grow better. I will take heed of 
quenching the spark, and strive to kin- 
dle a fire. If I have the goodness I 
should, it is not too much ; why should 
I make it less ? • If I keep the goodness 
I have, it is not enough ; why do I not 
make it more ? He never was so good 
as he should be, that doth not strive to 
be better than he is ; he never will be 
better than he is, that doth not fear to 
be worse than he was. Ibid. 

Virtue. 
Virtue is not a mushroom that 
springeth up of itself in one night, 
when we are asleep or regard it not ; 
but a delicate plant that groweth slow- 
ly and tenderly, needing much pains 
to cultivate it, much care to guard it, 
much time to mature it. Neither is 
vice a spirit that will be conjured away 
with a charm, slain by a single blow, 
or despatched by one stab. Who, 



Pearls of Thought. 19 

then, will be so foolish as to leave the 
eradicating of vice, and the planting in 
of virtue, into its place for a few years 
,or weeks? Yet he who procrastinates 
his repentance and amendment grossly 
does so ; with his eyes open, he abridg- 
es the time allotted for the longest and 
most important work he has to perform ; 
he is a fool. Barrow. 

Communion with God. 
A monarch vested in gorgeous habil- 
iments is far less illustrious than a 
kneeling suppliant ennobled and adorn- 
ed by communion with God. Consider 
how august a privilege it is when an- 
gels are present, when Cherubim and 
Seraphim encircle with their blaze the 
throne, that a mortal may approach 
with unrestrained confidence and con- 
verse with heaven's dread Sovereign. 
Oh ! what honour was ever conferred 
like this. When a Christian stretches 



20 Pearls of Thought. 

forth his hands to pray, and invokes 
his God, in that moment he leaves be- 
hind him all terrestrial pursuits, and 
traverses on the wings of intellect the 
realms of light ; he contemplates celes- 
tial objects only, and knows not of the 
present state of things during the pe- 
riod of his prayer, provided that prayer 

be breathed with fervency. 

Chrysostom. 

The pious man and the atheist always 
talk of religion : the one speaks of what 
he loves, and the other of what he 

fears. ' Montesquieu. 

A Holy Life. 
What availeth knowledge without 
the fear of God % An humble ignorant 
man is better than a proud scholar, 
who studies natural things, and knows 
not himself. The more thou knowest, 
the more grievously thou shalt be judg- 
ed. Many get no profit by their la- 



Pearls of Thought. 21 

bour, because they contend for knowl- 
edge rather than for a holy life ; and 
the time shall come when it shall more 
avail thee to have subdued one lust than 

to have known all mysteries. 

Taylor. 

Death. 

A dying but immortal being, on the 
verge of eternity, is as solemn a spec- 
tacle as the world can furnish. A 
hundred tender ties are then about to 
be severed. The delusions of the world 
are over ; it can promise nothing more. 
It has done its utmost, and the total 
sum is vanity of vanities. Its shadowy 
joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, cares 
and possessions, are now light as a 
feather weighed against the universe : 
and however once esteemed, can no 
longer pain or please, agitate or engage 
the immortal, who is bidding them an 
eternal farewell. The past is nothing ; 
but the future opens a tremendous, and, 



22 Pearls of Thought. 

if true support be wanting, a heart-ap- 
palling prospect. New scenes — a new 
and untried world — an eternity vast, 
boundless, and endless — joy without 
mixture, or pain without relief — the 
mansions of light and glory, or the" 
dark dungeons of despair — the welcome 
of angels, or the yell of demons — and 
the smile or the frown of the infinite 
Judge. P8m> 

Divine Influences. 
Not more necessary are constant 
supplies of water to the growth of 
vegetation in the sultry regions of the 
East, than the influences of divine 
truth to the existence of human happi- 
ness. If a tree, planted by the margin 
of a refreshing river, is proof against 
the heat of the sun, or the unfavourable- 
ness of seasons, he, also, who into a 
well-prepared heart, receives continual 
infusions of religious wisdom, is flour- 



Pearls of Thought. 23 

ishing and happy amidst all the incon- 
veniences of life. J&b> 

Christian Duty. 

Christianity is hard, but grateful 

and happy. I contemn the difficulty, 

when I respect the advantage. The 

greatest labours that have answerable 

requitals, are less than the least that 

have no regard. Believe me, when I 

look to the reward, I would not have 

the work easier. It is a good Master 

whom we serve, who not only pays, but 

gives ; not after the proportion of our 

earnings, but of hia own mercy. 

Hall. 
Christ's Yoke. 

" My burden is light," said the bless- 
ed Redeemer. A light burden indeed, 
which carries him that bears it. I have 
looked through all nature for a resem- 
blance of this, and I seem to find a 
shadow of it in the wings of a bird, 
which are indeed borne by the crea- 



24 Pearls of Thought. 

tore, and vet support her flight towards 
heaven. Bernard. 

Death. 
As death is the total change of life, 
every change is the death of some part; 
sickness is the death of health ; sleep- 
ing, of waking ; sorrow, of joy ; impa- 
tience, of quiet; youth, of infancy; 
age, of youth. All things which follow 
time, and even time itself, at last, must 
die. s Taylor. 



A godly man's comforts and griev- 
ances are alike hid from the world. 

Sibbs. 
Repentance. 

Repentance is not like the summer- 
fruit, lit to be taken a little, and in 
their own time ; it is like bread, the 
provision and support of life, the enter- 
tainment of every day ; but it is the 
bread of affliction to some, and the 
bread of carefulness to all ; and he that 



P ■; a .- b ■:■-" T\ : uo 1 . 4 . 



preaches this with the _: safest - ^verity, 

it mar be, takes the liberty of an ene- 
:■■-. but he gives the counsel and the 

assistant ::' a fr:en:i. H ■ " 

Silf-Ccxciit. 

in an ruber's c:nceit. be u;t wise in 
thine owne : he that trusts to his owne 

~isl::::e, proclaimes bis owne folly; 
he is truly wise, and shall appear 

that hath folly enough :o be thought 
not worldly wise, or wis!:::: enough to 
see his :™ne folly. Quarles. 

Theology. 
Thz:l:.tT is the rnpresse of the 



*■**■ r 

r* 



::*■"" c:uu- 



: :•— :y : pu-osopuy ner secretary ; 
:ra:es her mabls :■: houyar: the 
h veruues the lafiies of her be fi- 
ber: t:ea:r is her :ha:u:; erlaiue ; 



26 



Pearls of Thought. 



true joy and endlesse pleasure are her 
courtiers ; plenty her treasurer ; pov- 
erty her exchequer ; the temple is her 
court : if thou desire accesse to this 
greate majesty, the way is by her cour- 
tiers ; if thou hast no power there, the 
common way to the soveraigne is the 
secretary. Quarles. 

Prayer. 

Pkayer is a haven to the shipwreck- 
ed mariner, an anchor to them that are 
sinking in the waves, a staff to the 
limbs that totter, a mine of jewels to 
the poor, a security to the rich, a healer 
of diseases, and a guardian of health. 
Prayer at once secures the continuance 
of our blessings, and dissipates the 
cloud of our calamities. O blessed 
prayer! thou art the unwearied con- 
queror of human woes, the firm foun- 
dation of human happiness, the source 
of ever-during joy, the mother of Phil- 
osophy. The man who can pray truly. 



Pearls of Thought. 27 

though languishing in extremest indi- 
gence, is richer than all beside ; whilst 
the wretch who never bowed the knee, 
though proudly seated as monarch of 
nations, is of all men most destitute. 

Chrysostom. 

Spiritual Influences, 
Theke is no holiness, if thou, Lord, 
withdraw thy presence; no wisdom 
profiteth if thy Spirit cease to direct ; 
no strength availeth without thy sup- 
port; no chastity is safe without thy 
protection; no watchfulness effectual, 
when thy holy vigilance is not our 
guard. For no sooner are we left to 
ourselves, than the waves of corruption 
rush upon us, and we sink and perish ; 
but if thou reach forth thy omnipotent 
hand, we walk upon the sea and live. 
In our own nature we are unsettled as the 
sand upon the mountain ; but in thee 
we have the stability of the throne in 



28 Pearls of Thought. 

heaven. We are cold and insensible 
as darkness and death ; but are kindled 
with light and life by the holy fire of 
thy love. Thomas a Kempis. 

Life Checkered. 
As the rose-tree is composed of the 
sweetest flowers, and the sharpest 
thorns ; as the heavens are sometimes 
overcast — alternately tempestuous and 
serene — so is the life of man inter- 
mingled with hopes and fears, with 
joys and sorrows, with pleasures and 
with pains. Burton. 

Objectors to the Gospel. 
To reject the gospel because bad 
men pervert it, and weak men deform 
it, and quarrel about it, and bigoted 
men look sour on others and curse 
them, because they do not agree in 
every tittle among themselves, displays 
the same folly as if a person should cut 



Pearls of Thought. 29 

down a tree, bearing abundance of de- 
licious fruit, and furnishing a refresh- 
ing shade, because caterpillars disfig- 
ured the leaves, and spiders made 
their webs among the branches. 

Bogue. 
Advice. 

Advice is like snow, the softer it 
falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the 
deeper it sinks into the mind. 

Coleridge. 

Religion. 
Religion will always make the bitter 
waters of Marah wholesome and pala- 
table, but we must not think it contin- 
ually will turn water into wine, be- 
cause it once did. Warlurton. 

The Narrow Way. 
The kingdom of heaven is not to be en- 
tered but by violence : it must be taken, 
as it were, by assault, like a besieged 
place. The gate is straight and narrow ; 



30 Pearls of Thought. 

we must bow, we must bend, we must 
make ourselves little to gain admit- 
tance. The great gate which opens 
wide, and is passed by multitudes, leads 
to perdition. All broad and smooth 
ways are dangerous. Woe to us when 
the world favors us, and our life seems 
void of trouble. Crosses and difficul- 
ties are the surest marks of the way to 
heaven. Let us be aware, therefore, of 
going on with the multitude, and let us 
seek traces of the few ; let us follow 
the footsteps of the saints along the 
craggy paths of repentance ; climbing 
over the rocks, seeking secure places 
in the sweat of our face. Femlon. 

Envy. 
Envy, like a cold poison, benumbs 
and stupifies ; and thus, as if conscious 
of its own impotence, it folds its arms 
in despair, and sits cursing in a corner 
When it conquers it is commonly in 



Pearls of Thought. 31 

the dark ; by treachery and undermin- 
ing, by calumny and detraction. Envy 
is no less foolish than detestable ; it is 
a vice which they say keeps no holi- 
day, but is always in the wheel, and 
working upon its own disquiet. 

Jeremy Collier. 

God. 
There is a beauty in the name ap- 
propriated by the Saxon nations to the 
Deity, unequalled except by his most 
venerated Hebrew appellation. They 
call him " God," which is literally " The 
Good." The same word thus signifying 
the Deity and his most endearing 
quality. Sharon Turner* 

Worthy Fame. 
I love and commend a true good 
fame, because it is the shadow of Vir- 
tue — not that it doth any good to the 
body which it accompanies, but it is 
an efficacious shadow ; and, like that 



32 Pearls of Thought. 

of St. Peter, cures the diseases of oth- 
ers. Cowley. 

Mental Elevation. 
A nobleness and elevation of mind, 
together with firmness of constitution, 
gives lustre and dignity to the aspect, 
and makes the soul, as it were, shine 
through the body. Jeremy Collier. 

Christian Counsel. 

Next to the immediate guidance of 
God by his Spirit, the counsel and en- 
couragement of virtuous and enlight- 
ened friends afford the most powerful 
aid in the encounter of temptation, and 
in the career of duty. Eolert Hall. 

Good Men. 

Good men are the stars — the planets 
— of the age wherein they live, and 
illustrate the times. God did never 
let them be wanting in the world : as 
Abel for an example of innocency ; 



J 



Pearls of Thought. 33 

Enoch of purity ; Noah of trust in 
God's mercies ; Abraham of faith ; and 
so of the rest. Ben Jonson. 

Self-Esteem. 
He that holds himself in reverence 
and due esteem, both for the dignity 
of God's image upon him, and for the 
price of his redemption, which he 
thinks is visibly marked upon his fore- 
head, accounts himself both a fit per- 
son to do the noblest and godliest deeds, 
and much better worth than to deject 
and defile, with such a debasement and 
pollution as sin is, himself so highly 
ransomed and ennobled, to a new 
friendship and filial relation with God. 

John Milton. 

Impenitence. 
There is a greater depravity in not 
repenting of sin when it has been com- 
mitted, than in committing it at first. 
To deny, as Peter did, is bad ; but not to 
3 



34 Pearls of Thought. 

weep Utterly ', as he did, when we have 
denied, is worse. Payson s 

Self-Control. 
To arrest an importunate appetite, to 
silence the clamor of a passion, and to 
repel an assault upon our virtue, are 
noble instances of force, and handsome 
proofs of temper and discretion. 

Jeremy Collier. 

Brevity of Life. 
Look upon thy burning taper, and 
there see, the embleme of thy life : the 
flame is thy soule,the wax (if never so well 
tempered) can but last his length ; and 
who can lengthen it ? if ill-tempered, it 
shall waste the faster, yet last his length ; 
an open window shall hasten either ; an 
extinguisher shall put out both. 

Enchiridion. 
True Honor. 
God hath so ordered it that honour 
is naturally consequent on the honour- 



Pearls of Thought. 35 

ing Him. God hath made goodness a 
noble and stately thing ; hath impressed 
on it that beauty and majesty which 
commands an universal love and vene- 
ration, which strikes presently both a 
kindly and an awful respect into the 
minds of all men. Power may be 
dreaded, riches may be courted, wit 
and knowledge maybe admired; but 
only goodness is truly esteemed and 
honoured. Barron. 

Value of Time. 
Make use of time, if thou lovest 
eternity ; know, yesterday cannot be 
recalled, to-morrow cannot be assured : 
to-day is only thine ; which if thou 
procrastinate, thou losest ; which lost, 
is lost forever ; one to-day is worth two 
to-morrows. Bn en iridic?: . 

Sincere Friendship. 
Convey thy love to thy friend, as an 
arrow to the marke, to stick there, not 



36 Pearls of Thought. 

as a ball against the wall, to rebound 
back to thee ; that friendship will not 
continue to the end, that is begun for 
an end. Ibid. 

Humility. 

If thou desire the love of God and 
man, be humble ; for the proud heart, 
as it loves none but itselfe, so it is be- 
loved of none, but by itselfe, the voice 
of humility is God's musick, and the 
silence of humility is God's rhetorick. 
Humility enforces, where neither virtue 
nor strength can prevaile, nor reason. 

Enchiridion. 

Choice of Friends. 
Antisthenes used to wonder at those 
who were curious in buying but an 
earthen dish, to see that it had no 
cracks nor inconveniences, and yet 
would be careless in the choice of 
friends — to take them with the flaws 
of vice. Surely a man's companion is 



Pearls of Thought. l d1 

a second genius to sway him to the 
o*00 d or bad. Oicen Feltham. 

to 

The Soul's Heraldry. 
All those discourses which have been 
written of the soul's heraldry will not 
blazon it so well as itself will do ; when 
we turn our eyes in upon it, it will soon 
tell us its royal pedigree and noble ex- 
traction, by those sacred hieroglyphics 
which it bears upon itself. 

Smith's Discourses. 

Contentment. 

Compare what thou hast not with 
what thou hast, and see which is better. 
This will keep thee from trouble for 
what thou wantest, and thy desires 
shall not disquiet thee. Thou art poor, 
but thou art well, and hast id any- 
good friends; or, perhaps, thou hast 
none; but thou hast all the host of 
heaven — the sun, moon, and stars, and 



38 Pearls of Thought. 

all the elements, and the providence of 
God, and the charity of all well dis- 
posed people, as much as another man : 
thou mayest walk in thy neighbour's 
fields, yea, even in thy enemies' ground, 
and enjoy all the pleasures of the morn- 
ing, and recreate thyself with all the 
sweet odours, and behold the beauty of 
all God's creatures, and delight in that 
which God delights in — why shouldst 
thou be so distracted ? Patrick. 

The Triumphs of Piety. 
No triumphs are comparable to those 
of piety — no trophies so magnificent 
and durable as those which victorious 
faith erecteth ; they do far surpass the 
most famous achievements of pagan 
heroes. Barrow. 

The Divine Decrees. 
Then we shall easily be led into this 
scriptural hypothesis of the Divine de- 



Pearls of Thought. 39 

crees — viz., that as He decreed from all 
eternity to send His Son to be the Sa- 
viour of the world, so He then also 
determined that as many as should 
believe on Him should be saved, and 
such as did not so, should be damned ; 
and then, what if we should find it to 
follow, from the nature of God's omni- 
science, that he must foreknow the in- 
dividual persons that shall be saved or 
damned ? Or, from the nature of His 
determinations, that only such and no 
other can be saved — namely, those He 
hath decreed to it : yet then it will be 
evidently to no purpose to gaze up to 
God's decrees : for then, whatever hath 
been written in the archives of heaven, 
it is certain it cannot contradict this — 
that if I believe and repent, and become 
a good and holy man, I shall be saved, 
or otherwise I shall be damned; and 
then all is plain before me, for in this 
case I have nothing further to do but 



40 Pearls of Thought. 

to make use of the means of grace 
which God affords me, and to look into 
my own heart and life for my evidences 
of heaven. Goodman. 

Good and Evil. 
In many cases it is very hard to fix 
the bounds of good and evil, because 
these part, as day and night, which are 
separated by twilight. Whichcot. 

Opportunity. 

A great deal of time is contracted 
in opportunity — which is the flower of 
time. Ibid. 

Book of Nature. 

God hath given to mankind a com- 
mon library, his creatures ; and to every 
man a proper booke, himself, being an 
abridgement of all the others, if thou 
reade with understanding, it will make 
thee a great master of philosophy, and 
a true servant of the divine Autkour : if 
thou but barely reade, it will make thee 



Pearls of Thought. 41 

thy own wise man, and the authour's 
foole. Quarles. 

Use of Rebuke. 
If any speak ill of thee, flee home 
to thy owne conscience, and examine 
thy heart : if thou be guilty, it is a just 
correction ; if not guilty it is a faire in- 
struction : make use of both, so shalt 
thou distill honie out of gall, and out 
of an open enemy, create a secret 
friend. find. 

Spiritual Progression. 
Chbist has taught us the true way of 
ascending ; he first descended and then 
ascended. These were Christ's ascen 
sions: — He ascended unto the mount 
to pray and to teach ; he ascended the 
cross to weep, the cross to suffer ; and, 
after all, he ascended to heaven to 
reign in glory. These are the true de- 
grees of ascending. Firstly, we must 
ascend to prayer: secondly, we must 



42 Pearls of Thought. 

ascend the mount to learn the way to 
blessedness: thirdly, we must ascend 
the mount to contemplate of glory, as 
he did when he went to be transfigured : 
fourthly, we must ascend upon our 
carnal appetites to weep for our sins : 
fifthly, we must ascend unto the cross 
to be crucified unto the world : and so, 
last of all, we shall ascend in good 
time, by the grace of God, to rejoice 
with Christ in glory. To all this, saith 
St. Bernard, may be annexed this short 
form of ascending : — First we must as- 
cend to our heart — that is, to the know- 
ledge of ourselves : then, in our heart 
— that is, to acknowledge our own in- 
firmities : next, from our heart — that 
is, from the love of ourselves: and, 
last of all, above our heart — that is, to 
the love of Christ. Sutton. 

Indolence. 
Rather do nothing to the purpose, 
than be idle, that the Devill may finde 



Pearls of Thought. 43 

thee doing ; the bird that sits is easily 
shot, when fliers 'scape the fowler ; 
idlenesse is the dead sea that swallows 
all vertues, and the selfe made sepul- 
cher of a living man ; the idle man is 
the devill's hireling; whose livery is 
rags, whose diet and wages are famine, 
and diseases. Ibid. 

Detection of Sin. 
He who sins against men may fear 
discovery, but he who sins against God 
is sure of it. Jones, of Xayland. 

Pride. 
As thou desirest the love of God 
and man, beware of pride ; it is a tu- 
mour in thy minde that breaks and 
poysons all thy actions ; it is a worm 
in thy treasure which eates and mines 
thy estate ; it loves no man, is beloved 
of no man ; it disparages vertue in an- 
other by detraction ; it disre wards 



44 Pearls of Thought. 

goodnesse in itselfe, by vain glory ; the 
friend of the flatterer, the mother of 
envy, the nurse of fury, the band of 
luxury, the sinne of devils, and the 
devill in mankind : it hates superiors, it 
scorns inferiors, it ownes no equals ; in 
short, till thou hate it, God hates thee. 

Quarles. 
True Repentance. 

True repentance consists in the heart 
being broken for sin, and broken from 
sin. Some often repent, yet never re- 
form ; they resemble a man travelling a 
dangerous path, who frequently starts 
and stops but never turns back. 

Thornton. 
Censure. 

Bee not censorious, for thou know'st 
not whom thou judgest; it is a more 
dextrous errour to speak well of an 
evill man, than ill of a good man ; and 
safer for thy judgment to be misled by 
simple charity than uncharitable wis- 



r 



Pearls of Thought, 45 

dome : lie may taxe others with privi- 
lege that hath not in himselfe, what 
others may taxe. Quarles. 

The Bitterness of Six. 

He that hath tasted the bitterness of 
sin will fear to commit it ; and he that 
hath felt the sweetness of mercy will fear 
to offend it. Charnock. 

A Holy Life. 

A holy life, spent in the service of 
God, and in communion with Him, is, 
without doubt, the most pleasant and 
comfortable life that any man can live 
in this world. JtfelanctJion. 

Worldly Pleasures. 
Pleasures, like the rose, are sweet 
but prickly ; the honey doth not coun- 
tervail the sting, all the world's de- 
lights are vanity, and end in vexation; 
like Judas, while they kiss, they betray. 
I would neither be a stoic nor an epi- 



46 Pearls of Thought. 

cure — allow of no pleasure, nor give 
way to all ; they are good sauce, but 
naught to make a meal of. I may use 
them sometimes for digestion, never for 
food. Bp* HenshaiD) 1640. 

Maliciousness. 
The malicious man is so much no 
man's foe as his own ; for while he is 
out of charity with others, God is so 
with him ; if he loved himself he would 
not hate his brother. I will love all 
men for His sake that made them ; but 
the Christian, because he is God's son, 
I will love him doubly — for his own 
sake — for his Father's sake. Ibid. 

Death and Life. 
As he cannot rise again the resurrec- 
tion of the body, that doth not first die 
the death of the body, no more can he be 
born the birth of the soul, that doth not 
first die the death of sin. It is neces- 
sary that he which will be born twice, , 



Pearls of Thought. 47 

should die once while he lives, and he 
that will once rise the resurrection of 
life should die twice. That I may live 
ever, I will die daily. Tbid. 

The Poison of Sin. 
Sustne is a basiliske, whose eyes are 
full of venome, if thy eye of thy soule 
see her first, it reflects her own poyson 
and kills her: if she see thv soule un- 
seen, or seen too late with the poyson, 
she kills thee ; since therefore thou 
canst not escape thy sinne, let not thy 
sinne escape thy observation. 

Enchiridion. 

Worldly Loss. 
As there is no worldly gaine, without 
some losse, so there is no worldly losse 
without some gaine. If thou hast lost 
thy wealth, thou hast lost some trouble 
with it ; if those are degraded from thy 
honour, thou art likewise freed from 
the stroke of envie ; if sicknesse hath 



48 Pearls of Thought. 



blurred thy beauty, it hath delivered 
thee from pride. Set the allowance 
against the losse, and thou shalt find 
no losse great; he loses little or no- 
thing, that reserves himself. 

Enchiridion. 
Choice of Friends. 
Deliberate long before thou conse- 
crate a friend ; and when thy iinpar- 
tiall judgement concludes him worthy 
of thy bosome, receive him joyfully, 
and entertaine him wisely ; impart thy 
secrets, boldly, and mingle thy thoughts 
with his ; he is thy very selfe ; and use 
him so ; if thou firmly think him faith- 
ful, thou makest him so. Ibid. 

Death. 
There is nothing more certain than 
death, nothing more uncertain than the 
time of dying. 1 will therefore be 
prepared for that at all times, which 
may come at any time, must come at 
one time or another. I shall not hasten 



Pearls of Thought. 49 

my death by being still ready, but 
sweeten it. It makes me not die the 
sooner, but the better. Warwick. 

Circumspection. 
So live with men as considering al- 
ways that God sees thee : so pray to 
God, as if every man heard thee. Do 
nothing which thou woulclst not have 
God see done. Desire nothing, which 
may either wrong thy profession to ask, 
or God's honour to errant. EensJiaw. 

o 

The Bible. 
These is such fulness in that Book 
that oftentimes it says much by saying 
nothing; and not only its expressions 
but its silences are teaching, like the 
dial in which the shadow as well as the 
light informs us. Boyle. 

Impenitence. 
It is the greatest of all sins always 
to continue in sin. For where the cus- 
3 



50 



Pearls of Thought. 



torn of sinning waxeth greater, the 
conscience for sin grows the less ; it is 
easier to quench a spark than a fire. 

Warwick. 
True Prayer. 
The speech of the tongue is best 
known to men ; God best understands 
the language of the heart. The heart 
without the tongue may pierce the ears 
of heaven, the tongue without the heart 
speaks an unknown language. No 
marvel, then, if the desires of the poor 
are heard, when the prayers of the 
wicked are unregarded. I had rather 
speak three words in a speech that 
God knows, than pray three hours in a 

language that he understands not. 

Ibid. 

Resolution and Reformation. 
Resolution without action is a sloth- 
ful folly, action without resolution is a 
foolish rashness. First know what is 
good to be done, then do that good, 



Pearls of Thought. 51 

being known. If forecast be not bet- 
ter than labour, labour is not good 
without forecast ; I would not have my 
actions done without knowledge, nor 
against it. Ibid. 

Friendly Rebuke. 
It is the folly of affection not to rep- 
rehend my erring friend, for fear of 
his anger : It is the abstract of folly to 
be angry with my friend for my error's 
reprehension. I were not a friend, if I 
should see my friend out of the way, 
and not advise him : I were unworthy 
to have a friend, if he should advise 
me (being out of the way) and I be 
angry with him. Bather let me have 
my friend's anger, than deserve it. 

Ibid. 

Contentment. 
There is no estate of life so happy in 
this world, as to yield a Christian the 
perfection of content : and yet there is 



52 Pearls of Thought. 

no state of life so wretched in this 
world, but a Christian must be content 
with it. Though I can have nothing 
here that may give me true content, yet 
I will learn to be truly contented here 
with what I have. Warwick. 

Religion and Reason. 
Nature bids me love myself, and 
hate all that hurt me : reason bids me 
love my friends, and hate those that 
envy me ; religion bids me love all and 
hate none. Nature showeth care, rea- 
son wit, religion love. Nature may in- 
duce me, reason persuade me, but reli- 
gion shall rule me. I will hearken to 
nature in much, to reason in more, to 
religion in all. H>M* 

The Christian's Course. 
Nature hath sent me abroad into 
the world, and I am every day travel- 
ling homeward. If I meet with store 



Pearls of Thought. 53 

of miseries in my way, discretion shall 
teach me a religious haste in my jour- 
ney. And if I meet with pleasures, 
they shall pleasure me only by putting 
me in mind of my pleasures at home, 
which shall teach me to scorn these as 
worse than trifles. I will never more 
reckon a troublesome life a curse, but a 
blessing. A pleasant journey is dear 
bought with the loss of home. iW& 

Duties. 
Observed duties maintain our credit, 
but secret duties maintain our life. 

Flat el. 

The Pharisee and Publican. 

I cannot see two sawyers work at 
the pit but they put me in mind of the 
Pharisee and the Publican; the one 
casts his eye upward, whilst his actions 
tend to the pit infernal: the other 
standing with a dejected countenance, 
whilst his hands and heart move up- 



54 Pearls of Thought. 

ward. It is not a shame to make show 
of our profession, so we truly profess 
what we make show of; but of the two 
I had rather be good, and not seem so, 
than seem good, and not be so. 

Warwick, 

Fleeting Pleasures. 
I see when I follow my shadow it 
flies me, when I fly my shadow it fol- 
lows me. I know pleasures are but 
shadows, which hold no longer than 
the sunshine of my fortunes. Lest then 
my pleasures should forsake me, I will 
forsake them. Pleasure most flies me 
when I most follow it. Ibid. 

Sense and Reason. 
Our senses mislead our reason by 
false impressions, and reason also has 
its revenge by retorting the same trick 
on our senses. The passions of the soul 
disturb the senses, and excite impres- 
sions; and thus our two sources of 



Pearls of Thought. 55 

knowledge mutually lie and deceive 
each other. Pascal. 

Profession and Possession. 
An outward profession, however 
plausible, will not do without corre- 
sponding actions. How much better is 
it to have a peaceful sense of my own 
wretchedness and a humble waiting 
upon God for sanctifying grace, than to 
talk much and appear to he somebody 
in religion. Oxcen. 

Ignorance of God. 
^Ve must not wonder that men do 
so little for God, and that the little they 
do, costs them so dear : they know him 
not : scarcely do they believe that He 
is. The belief they have of Him, is 
rather a blind deference to the authori- 
ty of public opinion, than a lively and 
distinct conviction of the Divinity. 
They have no notion of God, except as 
an unknown something, and at a great 



56 Pearls of Thought. 

distance from us ; they look upon Him 
as a severe Being who makes great de- 
mands upon us, who thwarts our incli- 
nations, who threatens us with mighty 
evils, and against whose terrible judg- 
ments it is necessary to take some precau- 
tions. These are the thoughts of those 
who reflect seriously on religion, and 
who are, notwithstanding, a very small 
number. Such a one does but fear Him 
without loving Him. Those who do but 
fear, know not God, for Cl God is love." 

Fenelon. 
Thoughts. 
Thoughts! whence do they arise? 
what stuff are they made of? and what 
vigour is it that gives them such an 
instantaneous production ? They are 
conceived in full maturity, and step 
into perfection at first. They scorn 
the gradation of bodies and the heavy 
successions of motion. They gain the 
race at a start, outstretch the speed of 



Pearls of Thought. 51 

gunpowder, and distance light and 
lightning. Thoughts take up no room. 
When they are right, they afford a 
portable pleasure, which one may tra- 
vel with, without any trouble or in- 
cumbrance. Collier. 

Reason and Sense. 
The lower your senses are kept, the 
better you may govern them. Appe- 
tites are commonly like two buckets, 
when one is at the top, the other is at 
the bottom. Now, of the two, I had 
rather the reason-bucket should be up- 
permost. The senses are some of them 
so mean, they relish scarcely any thing 
but what they beg for. Ibid. 

Reflection. 
A man may as well expect to grow 
stronger by always eating, as wiser by 
always reading. Too much overchar- 
ges nature, and turns more into disease 



58 Pearls of Thought. 

than nourishment. It is thought and 
digestion which make books servicea- 
ble, and gives health and vigour to the 
mind. Collier. 

Selfishness. 
To be of a touchy, a peevish and a 
persecuting humour; to be quick in 
discovering a fault, and ready to spring 
out into revenge ; to kindle and rage 
like gunpowder at the least spark, are 
signs that we are perfectly wrapt in 
our own interests, and are overgrown 
with selfishness and conceit. loid. 

Fortitude. 
To live only to nurse up decays, to 
feel pain and to wait upon diseases, is 
somewhat troublesome; but to bear 
sickness with decency is a noble in- 
stance of fortitude. He that charges 
an enemy does not show himself more 
brave than he that grapples handsome- 
ly with a disease. To do this without 



Pearls of Thought. 59 

abject complaints, without rage and 
expostulation, is a glorious combat. 

Ibid. 

Afflictions. 
The more we fear crosses, the more 
reason have we to think that we need 
them. We ought to judge of the vio- 
lence of our disease by the violence of 
the remedies which our Spiritual Phy- 
sician prescribes for us. Fenelon. 

Moderation. 
He that would relish success to pur- 
pose, should keep his passions cool, and 
his expectations low; and then it is 
possible that his fortune might exceed 
his fancy; for an advantage always 
rises by surprise ; and is almost always 
doubled by being unlooked for. 

Mental Faculty. 
The operations of the mind are so pe- 
culiar, so foreign to all the appearances 



60 Pearls of Thought. 

of nature, that it is hard to assign them 
a proper original. Without thinking, we 

can have no sense of being ; and with it 
we are — we cannot tell what ; so that the 
same faculty seems to make us acquaint- 
ed with, and strangers to ourselves. 

Little Sins. 
Little sins do greatly deface the 
image of God in the soul. Adam was 
at first created according to the simil- 
itude and likeness of God : he had the 
Divine Portraiture drawn upon his 
soul by the creating finger of the Al- 
mighty; and yet we see how little a 
sin defaced it, and spoiled him of all 
his glory. In curious pictures a small 
scratch is a great deformity. Certain- 
ly the image of God is such a curious 
piece of workmanship, that the least 
scratch or flaw in it, by the least sin, 
deforms and turns that which before 
was the image of God, into the image 
of the devil. 



Pearls of Thought. 61 

There are more beyond comparison 
that perish and go down to hell by the 
commission of little sins, than by those 
that are more notorious and infamous. 
Here perisheth the hypocrite and here 
the formal professor : here perisheth 
your honest, civil, neighbourly man, 
that is so fair and upright in his deal- 
ing, that you can see nothing that is 
gross and scandalous by him. Oh ! 
but yet the blood of their precious and 
immortal souls runs out and is spilt for 
ever, through those insensible wounds 
that little sins do make. Hopkins, 1666. 

Christians like Stars. 
It has been observed that those are 
the fixed stars that tremble most. So 
Christians, who are fixed immoveably 
in the unchangeable love of God, are 
as stars fixed to the heavens in their 
orbs ; yet they are most of all in trepi- 
dation and trembling, when they reflect 



62 Pearls of Thought. 

upon themselves, and think that, in- 
stead of being stars in heaven, they 
might have been firebrands in hell. 
Hopkins, 1666. 
Prayer. 

He who prays as he ought will en- 
deavour to live as he prays. He that 
can live in sin, and abide in the ordi- 
nary duties of prayer, never prays as 
he ought. A truly gracious praying 
frame is utterly inconsistent with the 
love of any sin. Owen. 

Thankfulness. 
Many favours which God giveth us 
ravell out for want of hemming, through 
our own unthankfulness ; for though 
prayer purchaseth blessings, giving 
praise doth keep the quiet possession 
of them. Thomas Fuller. 

Self-Inspection. 
One hour of solitude passed in sin- 
cere and earnest prayer, or the conflict 



Pearls of Thought. 63 

with and conquest over a single pas- 
sion or bosom sin, will teacli us more 
of thought, will more effectually awak- 
en the faculty, and form the habit of 
refaction, than a year's study in the 
schools without them. Coleridge. 

Fear of Man. 
He that unduly fears man, cannot 
truly fear God ; and he that lives much 
in the fear of God, will not regard over- 
much what man can do unto him ; the 
want of faith is the root of all such fear, 
which becomes less and less, as faith 
gathers strength and increases in the 
soul. Ambrose Serle. 

Character. 
It is with our faculties, as with our 
affections : what first seizes holds fast. 
It is a vulgar theme that man is a com- 
pound of contrarieties, which breed a 
restless struggle in his nature, between 
flesh and spirit, the beast and the an- 



64 Pearls of Thought. 

gel, earth and heaven, ever weighed 
down and ever bearing up. During 
which conflict the character fluctuates ; 
when either side prevails, it is then 
fixed for vice or virtue. And life, 
from different principles takes a dif- 
ferent issue. It is the same in regard 
to our faculties. Sense at first besets 
and overbears the mind. The sensible 
appearances are all in all : our reason- 
ings are employed about them : our 
desires terminate in them : we look no 
farther for realities or causes : till in- 
tellect begins to dawn, and cast a ray 
on this shadowy scene. Berkeley. 

Soul and Body. 
I cannot comprehend why any one, 
who admits the union of the soul and 
body, should pronounce it impossible 
for the human nature to be united to 
the divine, in a manner ineffable and 
incomprehensible by reason. Neither 



Pearls of Thought. 65 

can I see any absurdity in admitting, 
that sinful man may become regener- 
ate or a new creature, by the grace of 
God reclaiming him from a carnal life 
to a spiritual life of virtue and holiness. 
And since the being governed by sense 
and appetite is contrary to the happi- 
ness and perfection of a rational crea- 
ture, I do not at all wonder that we 
' are prescribed self-denial. Ibid. 

Indolence. 
Sloth makes all things difficult, but 
industry all easy; he that riseth late 
must trot all day, and shall scarcely 
overtake his business at night; while 
laziness travels so slowly that poverty 
soon overtakes him. FranMin % 

Hope. 
Never quit your hopes. Hope is 
often better than enjoyment. It is cer- 
tainly a very pleasant and healthy pas- 
5 



Pearls of Thought. 



sion. A hopeless person is deserted by 
himself, and he who forsakes himself 
is soon forsaken by his friends and for- 
tune. Berkeley. 
Prayer and Desire. 

Wotjldest thou know the lawful- 
nesse of the action which thou desirest 
to undertake? Let thy devotion re- 
commend it to divine blessing ; if it be 
lawfull, thou shalt perceive thy heart 
encouraged by thy prayer ; if unlaw- 
fullj thou shalt finde thy prayer dis- 
couraged by thy heart. That action is 
not warrantable, which either blushes 
to begge a blessing, or having succeed- 
ed, dares not present thanksgiving. 

Enchiridion. 
Praise and Blame. 

If evill men speake good, or good 
men evill of thy conversation, examine 
all thy actions, and suspect thyselfe. 
But if eville men speake eville of thee, 
hold it as thy honour, and by way of 



Pearls of Thought. 67 

thankefulnesse, love them, but upon 
condition, that they continue to hate 
thee. Ibid. 

Meditation. 
Meditation* is the life of the soule ; 
action is the soule of meditation ; hon- 
our is the reward of action : so medi- 
tate, that thou mayst do ; so do, that 
thou mayst purchase honour : for which 
purchase, gives God the glory. Ibid. 

Divine Manifestations. 
God is a declaratory Deity. The 
whole year is to His saints a continual 
Epiphany — one day of manifestation. 
In every minute that strikes upon the 
bell is a syllable — nay, a syllogism 
from God. God translates Himself in 
particular works — nationally and per- 
sonally. If I be covetous, God will 
tell me that heaven is a pearl, a treas- 
ure : if cheerful and affected with 
mirth, that heaven is all joy : if ambi- 
tious and hungry of preferment, that 



68 Pearls of Thought. 

heaven is all glory: if sociable and 
conversible, that it is a communion of 
saints. Bonne. 

Angels. 

The starry heaven is but as it were 
the floor or pavement of a heaven 
above it, the supreme or highest heav- 
en, which is by consent of nations the 
place of the Almighty's most especial 
presence : all men by a kind of natural 
instinct, with minds, eyes, and hands 
lifted up, directing thither their prayers 
to God; and can we fancy that the 
universal King hath no servants to 
wait on Him in His presence-chamber, 
when we see so many paying their de- 
votion to Him at so great a distance 
here below? Natural reason, there- 
fore, directs and leads us to an acknowl- 
edgment that there are certain intelli- 
gent creatures in the upper world, who 
as they are more remote from the dregs 
of matter wherein we are immersed. 



Pearls of Thought. 69 

so tliey are of a more pure, refined, and 
excellent substance, and as far exceed- 
ing us in their way of understanding 
and glorifying the supreme God, as 
they are of nearer admission to the 
place where His glory is in the most 
especial manner manifested ; and these 
are they who in our sacred writings are 
known by the name of Angels. Bull. 

Fame. 
ZSTor is the desire of fame so vain as 
divers have rigidly imagined : fame 
being (when belonging to the living) 
that which is more gravely called a 
steady and necessary reputation ; and 
without it, hereditary power, or ac- 
quired greatness, can never quietly 
govern the world. ? Tis of the dead a 
musical glory, in which God, the Au- 
thor of excellent goodness, vouchsafes 
to take a continual share : for the re- 
membered virtues of great men are 



70 Pearls of Thought. 

chiefly such of Ms works (mentioned 
by King David) as perpetually praise 
him : and the good fame of the dead 
prevails by example, much 'more than 
the reputation of the living, because 
the latter is always suspected by our 
envy, but the other is cheerfully al- 
lowed and religiously admired : for 
admiration (whose eyes are ever weak) 
stands still, and fixes its gaze upon 
great things acted far off ; but, when 
they are near, walks slightly away as 
from familiar objects. Fame is to our 
sons a solid inheritance, and not un- 
useful to remote posterity ; and, to our 
reason, 'tis the first, though but a little, 
taste of eternity. Davenant 

Honesty of Purpose. 

Let thy conversation with men be 

sober and sincere ; let thy devotion to 

God be dutifull and decent ; let the one 

be hearty, and not haughty, let the 



Pearls of Thoun : 71 

;-:• be humble and not homely ; e 
live with men as if God saw thee, so 
men heard thee. 

Enchiridion, 

We are not Our Own. 
If thou owest thy whole selfe to thy 
for thy creation, what hast thou 
Left to pay for thy redemption, that 
[leap as thy creation? In 
thy creation, he gave thee thy selfe, 
and by thy selfe to him; in thy re- 
demption hee gave himselfe to thee, 
and through him restored thee to thy 
selfe; thou art given and restored: now 
what : "rest thou unto thy God ? if thou 
hast paid all thy debts, give him the 
snrnlnsa^e. and :hou hast merited. 

Ibid. 
Conversation. 
Ijs thy rae take heed what 

thou Bf eakeet, to whome thou speakest, 
how thou speakesr. and when thou 



72 Pearls of Thought. 

speakest: what thou speakest, speak 
truly, when thou speakest, speak wise- 
ly. A fool's heart is in his tongue ; but 
a wise man's tongue is in his heart. 

Enchiridion. 
Abstinence. 
If thou wouldst preserve a sound 
body, use fasting and walking; if a 
healthful soule, fasting and praying; 
walking exercises the body, praying 
exercises the soule, fasting cleanses 
both. K>id. 

The Christian. 

If you desire to have his picture, 
here it is : the true gentleman is one 
that is God's servant, the world's mas- 
ter, and his own man; his virtue is his 
business — his study his recreation — 
contentedness his rest — and happiness 
his reward: God is his Father — the 
Church is his mother — the saints his 
brethren — all that need him his friends 
— and heaven his inheritance : religion 



Pearls of Thought. 73 

'•• his mistress — piety and justice her 
iadiea oi honour — devotion is his chap- 
lain — chastity his chamberlain — sobri- 
ety his butler — temperance his cook — 

hospitality his housekeeper — prudence 
his steward — charity his treasure — pie- 
ty his mistress of the' house — and dis- 
cretion the porter to let in and out as 
is most fit. Thus is his whole family 
made up of virtues, and he the master 
of his family. He is necessitated to 
take the world in his way to heaven; 
but he walks through it as fast as he 
can, and all his business by the way is 
to make himself and others happy. 
Take him all in two words — he is a 
a man and a Christian. Clement Ellis. 

Malice. 
To do another man a diskindness, 
merely because he has done me one, 
serves to no good purpose and to many 
evil ones : for it contributes nothing to 
the reparation of the first injury (it 



74 Pearls of Thought. 

being impossible that the act of any 
wrong should be rescinded, though the 
permanent effect may) ; but, instead of 
making up the breach of my happiness, 
it increases the objects of my pity, by 
bringing a new misery into the world 
more than was before ; and occasions 
fresh returns of malice, one begetting 
another, like the encirclings of disturb- 
ed water ; till the evil becomes fruitful 
and multiplies into a long succession, a 
genealogy of mischiefs. 

Xorris of Bemerton. 

Faith and Works. 
There is the same analogy and con- 
nection between our intentions and our 
actions, as there is betwixt faith and 
good works. If we have faith and are 
destitute of good works, this is a dead 
faith: if we perform good works, and 
are destitute of true faith, those works 
are unprofitable. If we fast, pray, 
mortify our bodies, give alms to the 



Pearls of Thought. 75 

poor, renounce the pleasures and diver- 
sions of the world, and have not faith, 
we may possibly receive our reward at 
the hands of men, but we shall have 
no recompense for them before God ; 
because He approves of no works but 
what are entire, sincere, and in their 
kind perfect ; and those which are done 
without faith want that integrity, truth, 
and perfection, which they ought to 
have : and, on the other side, if we 
have faith but do not show it by works 
worthy of a true believer, we shall not 
be justified in the sight of God. We 
are in the true way, but we do not 
walk in that way — we have the foun- 
dation, but we build nothing upon that 
foundation — the root of the matter is 
in us, but we bring forth no fruit. 

Bp. Smalbridge* 

Obedience. 
Let the ground of all thy religious 
actions be obedience, examine not why 



76 Pearls of Thought. 

it is commanded, but observe it because 
it is commanded. True obedience nei- 
ther procrastinates nor questions. 

Quarles. 
Frequent Prayer. 

Pray often, because thou sinnest al- 
ways; repent quickly, lest thou die 
suddenly. He that repents it, because 
he wants power to act it, repents not of 
a sin till he forsakes not ; he that wants 
power to actuate his sin, hath not for- 
saken his sin, but his sin him. Mid. 

Life a Dream. 
Recall to your imagination what 
you so lately beheld and admired. All 
vanished like a dream ! — gone into air, 
into the dust, and into dead masses ! It 
is amazing to think what an infinity of 
pleasing objects have perished; so soon 
perished and gone ! Just as yesterday 
the fair profusion was here ; now it is 
no more to us than the earliest beauty 



Pearls of Thought. 77 

of Eden. It is gone, and for ever gone ! 
never to be that beauty again — that 
is, identically. The change is as if 
some celestial countenance had for a 
while beamed in smiles on the earth, 
but were now averted to some other 
world; and then the earth had no 
power to retain the glory and beauty ; 
they disowned and left it ; and left us 
on the bare ground over which the 
vision of enchantment had been spread. 

John Foster. 

Parental Deportment. 
So behave thyselfe among thy chil- 
dren, that they may love and honour 
thy presence : be not too fond, lest they 
fear thee not : be not too bitter, lest 
they fear thee too much, too much fa- 
miliarity will embolden them, too little 
countenance will discourage them, so 
carry thyselfe, that they may rather 
fear thy displeasure, than thy correc- 



78 Pearls of Thought. 

tion, when thou reprovest them, doe it in 
season, when thou correctest them, doe it 
not in passion : as a wise child makes a 
happy Father, so a wise Father makes 
a happy child. Quarles. 

Benefits of Adversity. 
No man is more miserable than he 
that hath no adversity ; that man is not 
tried whether he be good or bad ; and 
God never crowns those virtues which 
are only faculties and dispositions ; but 
every act of virtue is an ingredient 
into reward — God so dresses us for 
heaven. Jeremy Taylor. 

Angelic Beings. 
It seems we are led not only by rev- 
elation but by common sense, observ- 
ing and inferring from the analogy of 
visible things, to conclude there are in- 
numerable orders of intelligent beings 
more happy and more perfect than 



Pearls of Thought. 79 

man, whose life is but a span, and 
whose place upon this earthly globe is 
but a point in respect of the whole 
system of God's creation. "We are 
dazzled, indeed, with the glory and 
grandeur of things here below, because 
we know no better. But I am apt to 
think, if we knew what it was to be an 
angel for one hour, we should return to 
this world, though it were to sit on the 
brightest throne in it, with vastly more 
loathing and reluctance than we would 
now descend into a loathsome dungeon 
or sepulchre. Berkeley. 

Mystery or Creation. 
"We are perfectly ignorant how the sun 
was formed, how the planets were pro- 
jected at the creation, how they are still 
retained in their orbits by the power of 
gravity; but we admit, notwithstand- 
ing, that the sun was formed, that the 
planets were then projected, and that 



80 Pearls of Thought. 

they are still retained in their orbits. 
The machine of the universe is in the 
hand of God. He can stop the motion 
of any part, or the whole of it, with 
less trouble and less danger of injuring 
it, than you can stop your watch. 

Bp. Watson. 

Human Aspirations. 
All lower natures find their highest 
good in semblances and seekings of 
that which is higher and better. All 
things strive to ascend, and ascend in 
their striving. And shall man alone 
stoop? Shall his pursuits and desires, 
the reflections of his inward life, be 
like the reflected image of a tree on 
the edge of a pool, that grows down- 
ward, and seeks a mock heaven in the 
unstable element beneath it, in neigh- 
bourhood with the slim water-weeds 
and oozy bottom-grass, that are yet 
better than itself and more noble, in as 



Pearls of Thought. 81 

5, are preferable to slu 

ken for substances i So ! it i 
be a higher good to make you hi 
While you labour for any thing below 
your proper humanity, you seek a hai 
py life in the region of death. 

Ixcessant Changes. 
Behold! through a vast tract of sky 
before us, the mighty Atlas rears his 
lofty head, covered with snow above 
the clouds. Beneath the mountain's 
:'■; :»t, the rocky country rises into hills, 
a proper basis of the ponderous mass 
-e. where huge embodied rocks he 
piled one upon another, and seen; to 
prop the high arch of heaven. See ! with 
what trembling steps poor mankind 
tread the narrow brink of the deep pre- 
cipices ; from whence with giddy horror 
they look down, mistrusting even the 
lkI which tears them : whilst thev 



82 Pearls of Thought. 

hear the hollow sound of torrents un- 
derneath, and see the ruin of the im- 
pending rock ; with falling trees which 
hang with their roots upwards, and 
seem to draw more ruin after them. 
Here thoughtless men, seized with 
the newness of such objects, become 
thoughtful, and willingly contemplate 
the incessant changes of the earth's 
surface. They see, as in one instant, 
the revolutions of past ages, the fleet- 
ing forms of things, and the decay of 
even this our globe; whose youth and 
first formation they consider, while the 
apparent spoil and irreparable breaches 
of the wasted mountain show them the 
world itself only as a noble ruin, and 
make them think of its approaching 
period. Shaftesbury. 

Power of Temptation. 
I ksow from experience that habit 
can, in direct opposition to every con- 



Pearls of Thought. 83 

viction of the mind, and but little 
aided by the elements of temptation, 
induce a repetition of the most unwor- 
thy actions. The mind is weak where 
it has once given way. It is long be- 
fore a principle restored can become as 
firm as one that has never been moved. 
It is as in the case of the mound of a 
reservoir: if this mound has in one 
place been broken, whatever care has 
been taken to make the repaired part 
as strong as possible, the probability is 
that, if it give way again, it will be in 
that place. Foster. 

Virtue. 
Certainly virtue is like precious 
odors, most fragrant when they are 
crushed ; for prosperity doth best dis- 
cover vice, but adversity doth best 
discover virtue. If you listen even to 
David's harp, you shall hear as many 
hearse-like airs as carols ; and the pen- 
cil of the Holy Spirit hath laboured 



84 Pearls of Thought. 

more in describing the afflictions of 

Job than the felicities of Solomon. 

Bacon . 
Prayer. 

1 Okatto est clavis diei, et sera noc- 
tis, ? — Prayer is the key of the day, and 
lock of the night. And we should 
every day begin and end, bid ourselves 
good-morrow, and good night with 
prayer. This will make our labour 
prosperous, and our rest sweet. 

Lord Berkeley, 1670. 

Way of Life. 

If the way to heaven be narrow, ft 
is not long ; and if the gate be strait, 
it opens into endless life. Beveridge. 

Deformity. 
Mock not at those who are mis- 
shapen by nature. A poor man is a 
picture of God's own making, but set 
in a plain frame, not gilded ; a deform- 
ed man is also His workmanship, but 



Pearl* / \ ht. 

drawn with even lines and lr 

colors. Their souls have been the 

chapels of sanctity, whose bodies have 

the r q :alls of deformity. 

Fuller. 

Repentant:. 
TTith the same height of desire thou 
hast sinned, with the like depth of sor- 
row thou mnst repent ; thou that hast 
sinned to-day, deferre not thy rej snt- 
ance till to-morrow : he that hath prom- 
ised pardon to thy repentance, hath 
not promised life till thou repent. 

Quarles. 
Fear of Evil. 

If evils come not, then our fears are 

. vain, 
And if they do, fear but augments the 
pain. Thomas More. 

Life's Journey. 
!M!axe philosophy thy journey, theol- 
ogy thy journey's end: philosophy is 
a pleasant way, but dangerous to him 



8(5 Pearls of Thought. 

that either tires or retires : in this jour- 
ney, it is safe neither to loiter, nor to 
rest, till thou hast attained thy jour- 
ney's end: he that sits down a philoso- 
pher, rises up an atheist. 

Time. 
Even such is Time, that takes on trust, 

Our youth, our joys, our all we have, 
And pays us but with age and dust, 
Who in the dark and silent grave, 
When we have wander'd all our ways, 

Shuts up the story of our days ! 
But from this earth, this grave, this dust, 
My God shall raise me up, I trust. 

Eauiglu 

Despair. 
Despair antedates a misfortune, and 
torments a man before his time. It 
preys upon the vitals, like Prometheus' 
vulture, and eats out the heart of all 
other satisfactions. It cramps the 
powers of nature, and cuts the sinews 



..... 



f enterprise I i r un- 

• i st, mo] : x I saw my mid i tun :- i - 
k of fate gned 

: ] I y nc sesaty. Tol 
less imj : 3sTI Ifi is the way to make 

it so. How many feasible 

I .■■■;■ mig mied flu High lespondency, 

and been strangled in the birth 
sowai 

Emulation. 
Kmittjitmbi k 
H k enl .-. •..:". g - - ithal : it 
3 i man within the terms :: hon- 
our, and makes the contest ::: _ 

n I gen a as He strives - : excel, 
but it is t y raising himself, not bv de- 
pressing anothei 

Imm i yunrr, 
Dm more we sink intc the infirm 

Be. the nearer tvc 



88 Pearls of Thought. 

youth. All people are young in the 
other world. That state is an eternal 
spring, ever fresh and flourishing. 
Xow, to pas 3 from midnight into noon 
on the sudden ; to be decrepit one 
minute, and all spirit and activity the 
next, must be an entertaining change. 
To call this dying is an abuse of lan- 
guage. ^&*& 

FoRGIVEXESS. 

Hath any wronged thee ? be bravely 
reveng'd : sleight it, and the work's 
begun ; forgive it, and 'tis finisht ; he 
is below himselfe that is not above an 
inj ur v. En eh ir id ion. 

Courage. 
Courage, by keeping the senses qui- 
et, and the understanding clear, puts 
us in a condition to receive true intel- 
ligence, to make just computations 
upon danger, and pronounce rightly 
upon that which threatens us. Inno- 



Pearls of Thought. 89 

cence of life, consciousness of worth, 
and great expectations are the best 
foundations of courage. These ingre- 
dients make a richer cordial than youth 
can prepare. They warm the heart at 
eighty, and seldom fail in operation. 

Collier. 
Intemperance. 
When a man drinks hard, the blood 
boils over, and the passions rise and 
grow mutinous. In such a dangerous 
juncture the guards should be doubled, 
and twice as much sense summoned in 
as would serve for an ordinary occa- 
sion. ZS"ow, to part with one's reason, 
when we have need of as much more, 
if we could get it, is like breaking the 
compass, and throwing the pilot over- 
board in a storm. Ibid. 

Christian Progress. 
You must hold intercourse with God, 
or your soul will die. You must walk 



90 Pearls of Thought. 

with God, or Satan will walk with yon. 
Ton mnst grow in grace, or yon will 
lose it ; and yon cannot do this but by 
appropriating to this object a due por- 
tion of your time, and diligently em- 
ploying suitable means. Cecil. 

Death. 
Death is a port, whereby we pass to j oy ; 
Life is a lake, that drowneth all in pain ; 
Death is so near, it ceaseth all annoy : 
Life is so livid, that all it yields is vain. 
And as by life to bondage man was 

brought, 
Even so likewise by death was freedom 

wrought. Ewl of Surrey. 

Patience under Injuries. 
Hath any wounded thee with inju- 
ries ? meet them with patience ; hastie 
words rankle the wound, soft language 
dresses it, forgivenesse cures it, and 
oblivion takes away the scarre. It is 



Pearls of Thought. 91 

more noble, by silence to avoid an in- 
jury, than by argument to overcome 
it. Enchiridion. 

Resurrection. 
As for the resurrection of the dead, 
I do not conceive it so very contrary to 
the analogy of nature, when I behold 
vegetables left to rot in the earth, rise 
up again with new life and vigour ; or 
a worm, to all appearance dead, change 
its nature, and that, which in its first 
being crawled on the earth, become a 
new species, and fly abroad with wings. 

Berkeley. 

Our Heavenly Home. 
Let us consider that Paradise is 0111 
country, as well as theirs ; and so we 
shall begin to reckon the Patriarchs as 
our fathers. Why do we not, then, 
hasten and run, that we may behold 
our country, and salute our parents? 
A great multitude of dear ones is there 



92 Pearls of Thought. 

expecting us ; a vast and mighty crowd 
of parents, brothers and children, se- 
cure now of their own safety, anxious 
yet for our salvation, longs that we may 
come to their sight and embrace — to 
that joy which will be common to us 
and to them — to that pleasure expected 
by our celestial fellow-servants, as well 
as ourselves — to that full and perpetual 
felicity. Bede. 

Instability. 
Be not instable in thy resolutions, 
nor various in thy actions, nor incon- 
stant in thy affections; so deliberate, 
that thou mayst resolve; so resolve, 
that thou mayst performe ; so per- 
forate, that thou mayst persevere : mu- 
tability is the badge of infirmity. 

Enchiridion. 

Love of our Neighbour. 
Love thy neighbour for God's sake, 
and God for his owne sake, who cre- 
ated all things for thy sake, and re- 



Pearls of Thought. 93 

med thee for his me r cy sake: if 
thy love hath any orher object, it is 

false love : if thy object have any other 
end. it is selfe love. Ibid. 

Meditation. 

All endeavours aspire to eminency: 
all eniinencies do be^et an admiration. 
And this makes me believe that con- 
templative admiration is a large par: 
of the worship of the Deity. Nothing 
can carry us so near to God and heaven 
as this. The mind can walk beyond 
the sight of the eye ; and (though in a 
cloud; can lift us into heaven while we 
live. Meditation is the soul's perspec- 
tive glass : whereby, in her long re- 
move, she discerneth God, as if lie 
were nearer hand. Feltham. 

Aspiration. 

I have seen a lark rising from his 
bed of grass and soaring upwards, sing- 



94 Pearls of Thought. 

ing as he rises, and in hopes to get to 
Heaven and climb above the clouds ; 
but the poor bird was beaten back with 
the loud sighing of an eastern wind, 
and his motion made irregular and in- 
constant, descending more at every 
breath of the tempest than all the vi- 
brations of his wings served to exalt 
him till the little creature was forced 
to sit down and pant, and stay till the 
storm was overpast ; and then it made 
a prosperous flight ; for then it did rise 
and sing, as if it had learned music 
and motion from some angel as he 
passed some time through the air. So 
is the prayer of the good man when 
agitated by any passion. He fain 
would speak to God, and his words are 
of this earth, earthy ; he would look to 
his Maker, but he could not help seeing 
also that which distracted him, and a 
tempest was raised and the man over- 
ruled ; his prayer was broken and his 



Pearls of Thought. 95 

thoughts were troubled, and his words 
ascended to the clouds, and the wan- 
dering of his imagination recalled them, 
and in all the fluctuating varieties of 
passion they are never like to reach 
God at all. But he sits him down and 
sighs over his infirmity, and fixes his 
thoughts upon things above, and for- 
gets all the little vain passages of this 
life, and his spirit is becalmed, and his 
soul is even and still, and then it softly 
and sweetly ascends to heaven on the 
wings of the Holy Dove, and dwells 
with God, till it returns, like the use- 
ful bee, loaded with a blessing and the 
dew of heaven. Jeremy Taylor. 

Goodness. 
Goodness, like the river Nile, over- 
flows its banks to enrich the soil, and 
to throw plenty into the country. 
Goodness is generous and diffusive : it 
is largeness of mind and sweetness of 



96 Pearls of Thought. 

temper — balsam in the blood, and jus- 
tice sublimated to a richer spirit. Good- 
ness is justice and somewhat more. 
Goodness is modest and sincere, inof- 
fensive and obliging : it ruffles and dis- 
turbs nobody, nor puts any thing to 
pain without necessity. Collier. 

Intellectual Pleasures. 

Intellectual pleasures are of a no- 
bler kind than any others. They be- 
long to beings of the highest order. 
They are the inclinations of heaven, 
and the entertainments of the Deity. 

Ibid. 
Improvement of Time. 

The hours of a w T ise man are length- 
ened by his ideas, as those of a fool are 
by his passions. The time of the one 
is long, because he does not know what 
to do with it ; so is that of the other, 
because he distinguishes every moment 
of it with useful or amusing thoughts ; 



Pearls of Thought. 97 



or in other words, because the one is 
always wishing it away, and the other 
always enjoying it. Addison. 

Wages of Six. 
The wages that sin bargains for with 
the sinner are, life, pleasure, and profit ; 
but the wages it pays him with are, 
death, torment, and destruction. He 
that would understand the falsehood 
and deceit of sin, must compare its 
promises and its payments together. 

Dr. South. 
Selfishness. 
He that is sensible of no evil but 
what he feels, has a hard heart ; and 
he that can spare no kindness from 
himself, has a narrow soul. Collier. 

Fear of Death. 
Chpjst feared to die that thou mio-ht- 
est not fear to die, but mightest trust 
in Him who raised Jesus from the dead 

7 



98 Pearls of Thought. 

on the third day. Put thy trust in 
Him alone, Christian, despair not 
for any weakness of thine. Ogerius. 

The Cross. 
The cross is the concord of Scrip- 
tures, and, as it were, the boundary 
and border-land of old and new things. 
The cross confederates heaven and 
earth: the cross re-joins men and an- 
gels in the unanimity of their ancient 
concord. The cross is the death of 
vice, and the fountain and life of all 
virtue. The cross is the courage of 
those that are fighting bravely; the 
recovery of those that are fallen ; the 
crown of those that are victorious. 
The cross subjects us to a momentary 
death, and recompenses us with eternal 
life. Peter Damiani. 

Holy Scripture. 
What else is Holy Scripture but a 
letter from the Almighty God to his 
creature. The King of heaven, the 



Pearls of Thought. 99 

Lord of men and of angels, has sent 
you a letter to conduct you to eternal 
life, and yet you delay to read it zeal- 
ously. Learn the mind of God in the 
word of God. Gregory of Borne. 

Perfect through Suffering. 
By the bitter cup of sorrow we attair 
to glory. Let him who has attained tc 
the dignity of a friend of God, look on 
himself as he is in himself, and on the 
gifts received as something sublime, 
exalted above himself. Ibid. 

Affection. 
Let the foundation of thy affection 
be vertue, then make the building as 
rich, and as glorious as thou canst, if 
the foundation bee beauty, or wealth, 
and the building vertue, the foundation 
is too weak for the building, and it will 
fall. Happy is he, the pallace of whose 
affection is founded upon vertue, walled 



100 Pearls of Thought. 

with riches, glazed with beauty, and 
roofed with honour. Enchiridion. 

Besetting Sin. 
Every man's own besetting sin is the 
tempest. You love God ; you walk 
upon the sea ; the swellings of this 
world are under your feet. When your 
heart fluctuates with the desire of sin, 
call on the divinity of Christ, that you 
may conquer that desire. Anselm. 

Preservative against Sin. 

A heart in heaven will be a most 
excellent preservative against sin. It 
will keep the heart well employed. 
When we are idle, we tempt the devil 
to tempt us : as careless persons make 
thieves. Baxter, 

Penalties of Poverty. 

The necessitous man has neither 
hands, lips, nor understanding, for his 
own or his friend's use. He is slighted 



Pearls of thought. 101 

in men's conversation, overlooked in 
their assemblies, and repulsed from 
their doors. In a word, after all you 
can say of a man, conclude that he is 
rich, and you have made him friends ; 
nor have you utterly overthrown a man 
in the world's opinion, till you have 
said — he is poor. Steele. 

Ignoranxe. 

So long as thou art ignorant, be not 
asham'd to learn : he that is so fondly 
modest, not to acknowledge his own 
defects of knowledge, shall in time be 
so foully impudent to justifie his own 
ignorance ; ignorance is the greatest of 
all infirmities, and, justified, the chiefest 
of all follies. Quarles. 

Good Actions. 

God never accepts a good inclination 
instead of a good action, where that 
action may be done ; nay, so much the 
contrary, that if a good inclination be 



102 Pearls of Thought. 

not seconded by a good action, the 
want of that action is thereby made so 
much the more criminal and inexcus- 
able. A good inclination is but the 
first rude draught of virtue ; but the 
finishing strokes are from the will, 
which, if well disposed, will by degrees 
perfect ; if ill disposed, will by the su* 
perinduction of ill habits, quickly de- 
face it. South. 
Moral Warfare. 
The moral warfare which every ra- 
tional and accountable creature has to 
sustain, pregnant with consequences 
which reach to eternity, possesses an 
intrinsic and essential importance, to- 
tally independent of the magnitude of 
the events, or the publicity and splen- 
dour of the scenes to which it is at- 
tached. The moral history of a beg- 
gar, which faithfully revealed the inte- 
rior movements of his mind, and laid 
open the secret causes which contrib- 



Pearls of Thought. 103 

iited to form and determine his charac- 
ter, might enlarge and enlighten the 
views of a philosopher. Robert Hall. 

Close of Life. 
The last act of life is sometimes like 
the last number in a sum, ten times 
greater than all the rest. Collier. 

Personal Responsibility. 
He that has the business of life at 
his disposal, and has nobody to account 
to for his minutes, but God and himself, 
may, if he pleases, be happy without 
drudging for it. He needs not flatter 
the vain, nor be tired with the imperti- 
nent, nor stand to the courtesy of 
knavery and folly. He needs not 
dance after the caprice of a humourist, 
nor bear a part in the extravagance of 
another. His fate does not hang upon 
any man's face ; a smile will not trans- 
port him, nor a frown ruin him ; for his 



104 Pearls of Thought. 

fortune is better fixed than to float upon 
the pleasure of the nice and changeable. 

Collier. 
Modesty of Learning. 

Learning gives us a fuller convic- 
tion of the imperfections of our nature ; 
which, one would think, might dispose 
us to modesty: for the more a man 
knows, the more he discovers his igno- 
rance. Ibid. 
Object of Life. 

Life was given for noble purposes, 
and therefore we must not part with it 
foolishly. It must not be thrown up 
in a pet, nor sacrificed to a quarrel, nor 
whined away in love. Ibid. 

Life Fleeting. 
Life, like an ill-gotten estate, con- 
sumes insensibly, in despite of all im- 
aginable frugality. Infancy is a state 
of hope, and has the tenderness of pa- 
rents, or the compassion of strangers 
to support it. Youth, like a blossom, 



Pearls of Thought. 105 

gives us beauty in hand and fruit in 
prospect; but age grows worse and 
worse upon the progress, sinks deeper 
in sorrow and neglect, and has no 
relief to expect but the grave. 

Collier. 
Christianity. 

If ever Christianity appears in its 
power, it is when it erects its trophies 
on the tomb : when it takes up its 
votaries where the world leaves them, 
and fills the breast with immortal 
hope in dying moments. Robert Hall. 

Pleasure. 
Pleasure is pursued where it seems 
most renounced, and aimed at even 
in self-denial. All voluntary poverty, 
all the discipline of penance, and the 
mortifications of religion are underta- 
ken upon this view* A good man is 
contented with hard usage at present, 
that he may take his pleasure in the 



106 Pearls of Thought. 

other world. In short, to dispute the 
goodness of pleasure is to deny experi- 
ment, and contradict sensation, which 
is the highest evidence. Robert Hall. 

The Mind. 

The mind, by a sort of natural magic, 
raises the ghost of a departed pleasure, 
and makes it appear without any de- 
pendence upon space or time. This al- 
most omnipresence of an advantage, is 
a circumstance of value ; it gives op- 
portunity for use and repetition, and 
makes it so much the more one's own. 

Ibid. 
Pleasantry. 

An inoffensive pleasantness is a good 
quality to improve friendship. It enli- 
vens conversation, relieves melancholy, 
and conveys advice with better success 
than naked reprehension. This gilding 
the pill reconciles the palate to the pre- 
scription, without weakening the force 



Pearls of Thought. 107 

of the ingredients ; and he who can 
cure by recreation, and make pleasure 
the vehicle of health, is a doctor in 
good earnest. Robert Hall. 

True Courage. 
Tkue courage is the result of reason- 
ing. A brave mind is always impreg- 
nable. Resolution lies more in the 
head than in the veins, and a just sense 
of honour and of infamy, of duty and 
of religion, will carry us further than 
all the force of mechanism. Collier. 

Wealth. 
"Wealth is a rank soil, in which, un- 
less carefully managed, the weeds will 
quickly spring up, overtop the plants 
and choke the grain. Ibid. 

National Religion. 
It is an infallible signe of approach- 
ing mine in a Republick when religion 
is neglected, and her establisht ceremo* 






l08 Pearls of Thought. 

tries interrupted, the joy of Jerusalem 
depends upon the peace of Sion. 

Enchiridion. 
Wanton Jests. 

Wanton jests make fools laugh, and 
wise men frown. Scoff not at the nat- 
ural defects of any which are not in 
their power to amend. O 'tis cruelty 
to beat a cripple with his own crutches. 
No time to break jests when the heart- 
strings are about to be broken. He 
that will lose a friend for a jest, de- 
serves to die a beggar by the bargain. 
Thomas Fuller. 

Human Impotency. 
O Loed, take my heart, for I cannot 
give it ; and when thou hast it, oh keep 
it, for I cannot keep it for thee : and save 
me in spite of myself, for Jesus Christ's 
sake. Fenelon. 

Repentance. 

If I may be permitted to drop one tear 
as I enter the portals of the city of God, 



Pearls of Thought. 109 

it will be at taking an eternal farewell of 
that beloved and profitable companion 
— Bepentance. Rowland Hill. 

Angelic Ministeries, 
Ouf. walls of flesh, that close our souls, 

God knew how weak, and gave 
A farther guard, even every man, an 

angel guide to save. 
And men for us he angels, while they 

work our souls to save. Warner. 

Constant Prayer. 

The seeking of God should be the 
prologue to all our affairs ; we are en- 
joined first to pray, and then deter- 
mine : " Thou shalt make thy prayer 
unto him; thou shalt also decree a 
thing, and it shall be established unto 
thee." The interesting Providence in 
our concerns is the highway to success. 
The reason we miscarry is because we 
consult not God, but determine without 



110 Pearls of Thought. 

him, and then we have no reason to 
complain of him for not prospering our 
way when we never commended our 
affairs to his conduct. Charnocfo 

Repentance of Sin. 
So often as thou rememberest thy 
sinnes without griefe, so often thou re- 
peatest those sinnes for not grief eing : 
he that will not mourne for the evill 
which he hath done, gives earnest for 
the evill he means to doe, nothing can 
asswage that fire which sinnes hath made, 
but only that water which repentance 
hath drawne. Quarles. 

Judicious Silence. 
He cannot be wise that speaks much, 
or without sense, or out of season ; nor 
be known for a fool that says nothing. 
It is a great misery to be a fool ; but 
this is still greater, that a man cannot 
be a fool but he must show it. It were 
well for such a one if he could be 
taught to conceal his foolishness, but 



Pearls of Thought. Ill 

then there would be no fools. He is 
not a fool that hath unwise thoughts, 
but he that utters them. Even con- 
cealed folly is wisdom. And some- 
times wisdom uttered is folly ; while 
others care how to speak, my care shall 
be how to hold my peace. Sail. 

Confession. 

When thy tongue and heart agree 
not in confession, that confession is not 
agreeable to God's pleasure: he that 
confesses with his tongue, and wants 
confession in his heart, is either a vaine 
man, or an hypocrite : he that hath 
confession in his heart, and wants it in 
his tongue, is either a proud man, or a 
timorous. Ibid' 

Idleness. 

Idleness is more troublesome to a 
good mind than to do nothing : for, beside 
the furtherance of our estate, the mind 
doth both delight and better itselfe with 



112 Pearls of Thought. 

exercise. There is this difference, 
then, betwixt labour and idleness, la- 
bour is a profitable and pleasant trou- 
ble, but idleness is a trouble both un- 
profitable and comfortless. Sail. 

Simplicity and Purity. 
Simplicity and purity are the two 
wings by which a man is lifted up 
above all earthly things. Simplicity is 
in the intention ; purity in the affec- 
tion. Simplicity tends to God, purity 
apprehends and tastes him. 

Thomas a Kernels. 

Memory. 
Overburthen not thy memory to 
make so faithfull a servant a slave. 
Remember Atlas was weary. Have 
as much reason as a camell, to rise 
when thou hast thy full load. Memory, 
like a purse, if it be over full that it 
cannot shut, all will drop out of it. 
Take heed of a gluttinous curiositie to 



Pearls of Thought. 113 

feed on many things, lest the greedi- 
nesse of the appetite of thy memory 
spoyl the digestion thereof. Spoyl not 
thy memory with thine own jealousie, 
nor make it bad by suspecting it. 
How canst thou find that true which 
thou wilt not trust i Marshal thy no- 
tions into a handsome method. One 
will carrie twice more weight, trust and 
packt up in bundles, than when it lies 
untowardly flapping about his shoulders. 

Fuller. 
Bad Company. 
Sir Peter Lely made it a rule never 
to look at a bad picture, having found 
by experience that whenever he did so, 
his pencil took a hint from it. Apply 
this to bad books and bad company. 

Reconciliation. 
If thou hast wrong'd thy brother in 
thought, reconcile thee to him in 
thought; if thou hast offended him in 



114 Pearls of Thought. 

words, let thy reconciliation be in 
words ; if thou hast trespassed against 
him in deeds, by deeds be reconciled 
to him ; that reconciliation is most kindly 
which is most in kind. Quarles. 

Good Deeds. 
When thy hand hath done a good 
act, aske thy heart if it be w r ell done : 
the matter of a good action is the deed 
done : the form of a good action is the 
manner of the doing, in the first, anoth- 
er hath the comfort, and thou the glory, 
in the other, thou hast the comfort, and 
God the glory : that deed is ill done 
wherein God is no sharer. 

Enchiridion. 
Beauty. 

Gaze not on beauty too much, lest it 
blast thee ; nor too long, lest it blind 
thee ; nor too near, lest it burn thee ; if 
thou like it, it deceives thee ; if thou 
love it, it disturbs thee ; if thou 
lust after it, it destroys thee ; if vertue 



Pearls of Thought. 115 

accompany it, it is the heart's paradise ; 
if vice associate it, it is the soule's 
purgatory ; it is the wise man's bone- 
fire — the foole's furnace. Enchiridion. 

Greatness of God. 

Thixke of God. (especially in thy de- 
votion) in the abstract, rather than the 
concrete, if thou conceive him good, 
thy finite thoughts are ready to termi- 
nate that good in a conceived subject; 
if thou thinke him great, thy bounded 
conceipt is apt to cast him into a com- 
prehensible figure : conceive him, there- 
fore, a diffused goodnesse without qual- 
ity, and represent him an incomprehen- 
sible greatnesse without quantity. 

" Ibid. 
True Religion. 

If thou and true religion be not as 
ret met ; or met unknowne ; by these 
markes thou shalt discover it. First, it 
is a religion that takes no pleasure in 



116 Pearls of Thought. 

the expense of blood. Secondly, it is 
a religion, whose tenets crosse not the 
booke of truth. Thirdly, it is a reli- 
gion, that takes most from the creature, 
and gives most to the creatour. If such 
a one thou meet with, assure thy selfe 
it is the right, and therefore professe it 
in thy life, and protect it to thy death. 

Enchiridion. 
Pity. 
When thou seest misery in thy bro- 
ther's face, let him see mercy in thine 
eye ; the more the oyle of mercy is 
poured on him by thy pity, the more 
the oyle in thy cruse shall be encreas- 
ed by thy pity. HM* 

Virtue and Vice. 
If thou takes paines in what is good, 
the paines vanish, the good remaines, 
if thou take pleasure in what is evill, 
the evill remaines, and the pleasure 
vanishes ; what art thou the worse for 



Pearls of Thought. 117 

paines, or the better for pleasure, when 
both are past. Enchiridion. 

Fear of Sinning. 
To tremble at the sight of thy sinne, 
makes thy faith the lesse apt to tremble ; 
the devils beleeve and tremble, because 
they tremble at what they beleeve ; 
their beliefe brings trembling; thy 
trembling brings beliefe. Ibid. 

Dangerous Friendships. 
With three sorts of men enter no 
serious friendship : the ingratefull man, 
the multiloquious man. the coward : the 
first cannot prize thy favours : the second 
cannot keep thy couhsell : the third dare 
not vindicate thy honour. Ibid, 

Self- Scrutiny. 
Eeade not bookes alone, but men, 
and amongst them chiefly thy self e : if 
thou find anything questionable there, 



118 Pearls of Thought. 

use the commentary of a severe friende, 
rather than the glosse of a sweete-lipt 
flatterer ; there is more profit in a dis- 
tastefull truth, than deceitfull sweet- 
nesse. Enchiridion. 

How Life is Fed. 

The birds of the aire die to sustaine 
thee ; the beasts of the fields die to 
nourish thee, the fishes of the sea die 
to feed thee. Our stomack are their 
common sepulcher. 

Good God ! with how many deaths 
are our poor lives patent up ? how full 
of death is the life of momentary man ? 

Quarles. 
Economy of Time. 

If thou desire the time should not 
passe too fast, use not too much pas- 
time: thy life in jollity blazes like a 
tapour in the wind : the blast of hon- 
our wastes it, the heat of pleasure 
melts it; if thou labour in a painfull 
calling, thou shalt be lesse sensible of 



Pearls of Thought. 119 

the fleet of time, and sweetlier satisfied 
at the time of death. Quartet. 

God — Alpha and Omega. 
God is Alpha and Omega in the 
great world ; endeavour to make him 
so in the little world ; make him thy 
evening epilogue, and thy morning 
prologue, practice to make him thy 
last thought at night when thou sleep- 
est ; and thy first thought in the morn- 
ing when thou awakest ; so shall thy 
fancy be sanctified in the night, and 
thy understanding rectified in the day, 
so shall thy rest be peacefull, thy la- 
bours prosperous, thy life pious, and 
thy death glorious. Ibid. 

Sinful Habits. 
Be not too slow in the breaking of a 
sinfull custome, a quick courageous res- 
olution is better than a graduall deli- 
beration : in such a combate, he is the 



120 Pearls of Thought. 

bravest souldier that layes about him 
without feare or wit. Wit pleades ; 
feare disheartens; he that would kill 
Hydra, had better strike off one neck 
than five heads ; fell the tree and the 
branches are soon cut off. 

Quarles. 

Love of God. 
If thou enjoy est not the God of love, 
thou canst not obtaine the love of God, 
neither untill then canst thou enjoy a 
desire to love God, nor relish the love 
of God ; thy love to God is nothing but 
a faint reflection of God's love to thee ; 
till he please to love thee, thy love can 
never please him. Ibid. 

Moderation. 
If thou hast any businesse of conse- 
quence in agitation, let thy care be 
reasonable, and seasonable ; continuall 
standing bent weakens the bow ; too 
hasty drawing breaks it. Put off thy 



Pearls of Thought. 121 

cares with thy clothes ; so shall thy 
rest strengthen thy labour ; and so shall 
thy labour sweeten thy rest. Quarks. 

Approbation of God. 
If thou hope to please all, thy hopes 
are vaine ; if thou feare to displease 
some, thy feares are idle. The way to 
please thyselfe is not to displease the 
best ; and the way to displease the best, 
is to please the most ; if thou canst 
fashion thyselfe to please all, thou shaft 
displease him that is all in all. 

Hid. 

Renunciation* of Sin. 

If thou would'st be justified, acknowl- 
edge thy injustice: he that confesses 
his sinne, begins his journey to salva- 
tion; he that is sorry for it mends his 
pace ; he that forsakes it, is at his jour- 
nie's end. Enchiridion. 

Self-Control. 
The way to subject all things to thy- 
selfe, is to subject thyselfe to reason; 



122 Pearls of Thought. 

thou shalt governe many, if reason 
governe thee : wouldst thou be crown- 
ed the monarch of a little world? com- 
mand thyselfe. Enchiridion. 

Knowledge and Faith. 
Thy ignorance in unrevealed myste- 
ries, is the mother of a saving faith ; 
and thy understanding in revealed 
truths, is the mother of a sacred knowl- 
edge ; understand not therefore that 
thou maist beleeve, but beleeve that 
thou maist understand ; understanding 
is the wages of a lively faith, and faith 

is the reward of an humble ignorance. 

Ibid. 

Pride and Charity. 

Pride is the ape of charity, in show, 

not much unlike ; but somewhat fuller 

of action. In seeking the one, take 

heed thou light not upon the other: 

they are two parallels ; never but 

asunder: charity feeds the poore, so 



Pearls of Thought. 123 

does pride ; charity builds an hospital!, 
so does pride : in this they differ : char- 
ity gives her glory to God ; pride takes 
her dory from man. Quarles. 

Benefactions. 

"What thou givest to the poore, thou 
securest from the thiefe, but what thou 
withholdest from his necessity, a thiefe 
possesses. God's exchequer is the 
poore man's box : when thou strikest a 
tally, he becomes thy debtor. 

Enchiridion. 

Neglect of the Soul. 
" Two things a master commits to his 
servant's care," saith one, " the child 
and the child's clothes." It will be but 
a poor excuse for the servant to say at 
his master's return, sir, here are all the 
child's clothes neat and clean, but the 
child is lost ! Much so will be the ac- 
count that many will give to God of their 



124 Pearls of Thought. 

souls and bodies at the great day. Lord 
here is my body, I was very careful for 
it, I neglected nothing that belonged to 
its content and welfare ; but for my 
soul, that is lost and cast away forever. 
I took little care and thought about it. 

Flavel. 

Death — Life. 
Two hands across the breast 

And work is done, — 
Two pale feet crossed in rest, 

The race is run : — 
Two eyes with coin-weights shut, 

And all tears cease, — 
Two lips where grief is mute, 
And wrath at peace, 
So pray we ofttimes mourning our lot ; 
God in His kindness answereth not! 

Two hands to work addressed, 

Aye for His praise ! — 
Two feet that never rest, 

Walking his ways : — 



Pearls of Thought. 125 

Two eyes that look above, 
Still through all tears, — 
Two lips that speak but love, 
Never more fears : — 
§ So cry we afterwards, low on our knees : 
Sj Pardon those erring prayers, Father — 
i hear these ! Anon. 

Mercy. 
Let us take heed ; for mercy is like 
a rainbow which God set in the clouds 
to remember mankind ; we must never 
look for it after night, and it shines not 
in the other world. If we refuse mercy 
here, we shall have justice to eternity. 

Bp. Taylor. 

Earthly Treasure. 
If thou hide thy treasure upon the 
earth, how canst thou expect to find it 
in heaven % Canst thou hope to be a 
sharer where thou hast reposed no 
stocke? "What thou givest to God's 
glory, and thy soule's health, is laid up 



126 Pearls of Thought. 

in heaven, and is only thine ; that alone, 
which thou exchangest, or hidest upon 
earth is lost. Enchiridion. 

To-Day — To-Morrow. 

Rabbi Eliezer said, "Turn to God 
one day before your death." His dis- 
ciples said, " How can a man know the 
day of his death ? " He answered them, 
"Then you should turn to God to-day ; 
perhaps you may die to-morrow ; thus 
every day will be employed in return- 
ing. 

Use of Affliction. 

If any hard affliction hath surprized 
thee, cast one eye upon the hand that 
sent it, and the other upon the sin that 
brought it : if thou thankfully receive the 
message, he tfiat sent it will discharge 
the messenger. Enchiridion. 

Slander. 
Let thy tongue take counsell of one 
eye, rather than of two ears ; let the 



Pearls of Thought. 



newes thou reportest be ratlier stale 
than false, lest thou be branded with 
the name of liar. It is an intolerable 
dishonour to be that which only to be 
called so, is thought worthy of a stabbe. 

Quarles. 

Heavenly Mindedness. 

If we would become heavenly mind- 
ed, we must let the imagination realize 
the blessedness to which we are moving 
on. Let it calm you and ennoble you, 
and give you cheerfulness to endure. 

Let us think much of rest, the rest 
which is not of indolence, but of pow- 
ers in perfect equilibrium ; the rest 
which is deep as summer midnight, yet 
full of life and force as summer sun- 
shine, the Sabbath of eternity. 

Robertson. 

The Uxregenerate. 
The Scriptures define all unregene- 
rate persons as dead in trespasses and 



128 Pearls of Thought. 

sins, — to urge the specious plea, there- 
fore, that because a man is not notori- 
ously wicked, he need not seek the sal- 
vation that is in Christ, is as absurd as 
to deck a dead body with flowers, and 
then to insist upon its being a living 
person. Anon. 

Self-Go verxment. 
When we are alone, we have our 
thoughts to watch, in the family our 
tempers, in company our tongues. 

Hannah More. 

Charity. 
I will tell you why charity seems to 
be signified by the oil. The Apostle 
says, "I show unto you a way above 
the rest. Though I speak with the 
tongue of men, and of angels, and have 
not charity, I am become as sounding 
brass or a tinkling cymbal.'' This, i. e. 
charity, is that way above the rest, 
which is with good reason signified by 



PearU ■-/ The ught. 12 

ve all liqi 

:\ and pour in oil upon it, 

and the oil will swim above. Pour in oil, 

in water upon it, the oil will swim 

: o keep the usual order, it 

be uppermost; if yon change the 

order, it will still be uppermost; charity 

failettL ■>"• -^ , 

Study c? the Scriptures. 
b read the Word of God, we study 
it, we hear it, we know more of it per- 
ha] - than our neighbours do, but to ac- 
cept it, to believe it, to yield ourselves 
up to it, to live according to it, to feed 
v\ : n it, to know, and act afi knowing, 
that ,; man doth not live by bread alone, 
but by svery woi . that proceedeth out 
of the month ::' Be 1 :'* this, and only 
this, will make all that nearness, and 
all that knowledge, the blessing that it 
should be, that it may be, that it 

ml - it is to be turned into a curse 



130 Pearls of Thought, 

instead of a blessing, and bring us into 
a miserable likeness with tlie lost apos- 
tle. -Dr. Mdberly. 
Christian Charity. 
Let the love of your brethren be as 
a fire within you, consuming that sel- 
fishness that is so contrary to it and is 
so natural to men; let it set your 
thoughts on work to study how to do 
others good : let your love be an active 
love intense within you, and extending 
itself in doing good to the souls and 
bodies of your brethren as they need 
and you are able. LeigMon. 

Virtue. 
The lofty mountain of virtue is of 
quite a contrary make to all other 
mountains. In the mountains of the 
earth the skirts are pleasant, but the 
tops rough ; whereas the skirt of the 
mountain of virtue is harsh, but the 
top delicious. He who studies to come 



Pearls of Thought. 131 

at it, meets in his first step nothing but 
stones, briers, and thistles ; but the 
roughness of the way diminishes as he 
proceeds in his journey, and the plea- 
sure of it increases, until at length on 
the top he finds nothing but beautiful 
flowers, choice plants and crystal foun- 
tains. Tillotson. 

The Christian. 
jSo man is so happy as a real Chris- 
tian ; none so rational, so virtuous, so 
amiable. How little vanity does he 
feel, though he believes himself united 
to God ! How far is he from abjected- 
ness when he ranks himself with the 
worms of the earth ! Pascal. 

Happiness Found only in God. 
There is nothing substantial and sat- 
isfactory but the Supreme Good : in it, 
the deeper we go, and the more largely 
we drink, the better and happier we 
are ; whereas, in outward acquirements. 



132 Pearls of Thought. 

\ 

if we could attain to the summit and 
perfection of them, the very possession 
with the enjoyment palls. LangJwrne. 

Meditation on Truth. 
It is not hasty reading but seriously 
meditating, upon holy and heavenly 
truths, that makes them prove sweet 
and profitable to the soul. It is not 
the bee's touching on the flowers that 
gathers honey, but her abiding for a 
time upon them and drawing out the 
sweet. It is not he that reads most, but 
he that meditates most on divine truth 
that will prove the choicest, wisest, 
strongest Christian. Sail. 

Religion. 
A conscience void of offence before 
God and man is an inheritance for eter- 
nity. Religion, therefore, is a necessary, 
an indispensable element in any great 
human character. There is no living 



Pearls of Thought. 133 

without it. Religion is the tie that con- 
nects man with his Creator and holds 
him to his throne. If that tie is sun- 
dered or broken, he floats away, a 
worthless atom in the universe ; its 
proper attractions all gone, its destiny 
thwarted, and its whole future nothing 
but darkness, desolation, and death. A 
man with no sense of religious duty is 
he whom the Scriptures describe in so 
terse but terrific a manner as "living 
without God in the world." Such a man 
is out of his proper being, out of the 
circle of all his duties, out of the circle 
of all his happiness, and away — far, far, 
away, from the purposes of his crea- 
tion. Webster. 

The Virtuous. 
If men knew what felicity dwells in 
the cottage of a virtuous man, how 
sound he sleeps, how quiet his rest, 
how composed his mind, how free from 
care, how easy his position, how joyful 



134 Pearls of Thought. 

his heart, they would never admire the 
noises, the throngs of passions, and the 
violence of unnatural appetites that fill 
the house of the luxurious and the 
heart of the ambitious. Taylor. 

The Soul. 
We may compare the soul to a linen 
cloth: it must he first washed, to take 
off its native hue and color, and to 
make it white ; and afterwards it must 
be ever and anon washed to preserve 
and keep it white. South. 

Procrastination. 

Be wise to-day ; ? tis madness to defer ; 

Xext day the fatal precedent will plead ; 

Thus on, till wisdom is pushed out ot 

life. Young. 

Affliction. 

The truly great and good £91 (/Miction 

bear a countenance more princely than 

they are wont ; for it is the temper of 



Pearls of Thought. 135 

the highest hearts, like the palm-tree, 
to strive most upwards when it is most 
burdened. 8. P. Sidney. 

Virtue. 
There is but one pursuit in life which 
it is in the power of all to follow, and 
of all to obtain. It is subject to no dis- 
appointments, since he that perseveres, 
makes every difficulty an advancement, 
and every contest a victory ; — and this 
is the pursuit of virtue. Colton. 

Resurrection Reflected in Nature. 
When I see the heavenly sun buried 
under earth in the evening of the day, 
and in the morning to find a resurrec- 
tion to his glory, why (think I) may not 
the sons of heaven, buried in the earth, 
in the evening of their days, expect the 
morning of their glorious resurrection ? 
Each night is but the past day's funeral, 
and the morning his resurrection ; why 



136 Pearls of Thought. 

then should our funeral sleep be other 
than our sleep at night? "Why should 
we not as well awake to our resurrec- 
tion, as in the morning? I see night is 
rather an intermission of day than a 
deprivation, and death rather borrows 
our life of us than robs us of it. Since, 
then, the glory of the sun finds a resur- 
rection, why should not the sons of 
glory ? Warwick. 

The World's Favor Worthless. 
I see corruption so largely rewarded, 
that I doubt not but I should thrive 
in the world, could I get but a dispen- 
sation for my conscience for the liberty 
of trading. A little flattery would get 
me a great deal of favour, and I could 
buy a world of this world's love, with 
the sale of this little trifle honesty. 
Were this world my home, I might 
perhaps be trading: but alas, these 
merchandise yield less than nothing in 



Pearls of Thought. 137 

heaven. I would willingly be at quit 
with the world, but rather at peace 
with my conscience. The love of men 
is good, whilst it lasteth ; the love of 
God is better, being everlasting. 

Warwick. 

Charity. 
Nothing truly can be termed my own 
But what I make my own by using well. 
Those deeds of charity which we have 

done 
Shall stay forever with us ; and that 

wealth 
"Which we have so bestowed we only 

keep: 
The other is not ours. Middleton. 

Moral Consciousness. 
As I see in the body, so I know in 
the soul, they are oft most desperately 
sick who are least sensible of their dis- 
ease ; whereas he that fears each light 
wound for mortal, seeks a timely cure, 



138 Pearls of Thought. 

and is healed. I will not reckon it my 
happiness, that I have many sores, but 
since I have them, I am glad they 
grieve me. I know the cure is not the 
more dangerous, because my wounds 
are more grievous ; I should be more 
sick if 1 pained less. Warwick. 

Jesus. 

The name of Jesus is not only light, 
but also food ; it is likewise oil, without 
which all the food of the soul is dry : it 
is salt, unseasoned by which whatever 
is presented to us is insipid ; it is honey 
in the mouth, melody in the ear, joy 
in the heart, medicine to the soul ; and 
there are no charms in any discourse in 
which his name is not heard. 

Bernard. 
Charity. 

It is not good to speak evil of all 
whom we know bad: it is worse to 
judge evil of any who may prove good. 






Pearls of Thought. 139 

To speak ill upon knowledge, shows a 
want of charity ; to speak ill upon sus- 
picion shows a want of honesty. I will 
not speak so bad as I know of many : I 
will not speak worse than I know of 
any. To know evil by others, and not 
speak it, is sometimes discretion : to 
speak evil by others, and not know it, 
is always dishonesty. Warwick 

Saying and Doing. 
There is many a good divine that 
cannot learn his own teaching. It is 
easier to say, this do, than to do it. 
When, therefore, I see good doctrine 
with an evil life, I may pity the one, 
but I will practise only the other. The 
good sayings belong to all, the evil ac- 
tions only to their authors. Ibid. 

Evil Company. 
There is no security in evil society 
where the good are often made worse, 



140 Pearls of Thought. 

the bad seldom better; for it is the 
peevish industry of wickedness to find, 
or make a fellow. It is like they will 
be birds of a feather that used to flock 
together. For such commonly doth 
their conversation make us, as they are 
with whom we use to converse. I can- 
not be certain not to meet with evil 
company, but I will be careful not to 
keep with evil company. Warwick. 

Seeing — Believing. 

As faith is the evidence of things not 
seen, so things that are seen are the 
perfecting of faith. I believe a tree 
will be green, when we see him leaf- 
less in winter ; I know he is green when 
I see him flourishing in summer. 

It was a fault in Thomas not to be- 
lieve till he did see : it were a madness 
in him not to believe when he did see. 
Belief may sometime exceed reason, 
not oppose it : and faith be often above 



Pearls of Thought. 141 

, not against it. Thus whilst faith 
doth assure me that I eat Christ effectu- 
ally, sense must assure me that I taste 
bread really. For though I oftentimes 
see not those tilings that I believe, vet I 
must still believe those things that I see. 

Warn 

Dissimulation. 

It is no small fault to be bad, and 

seem so ; it is a greater fault to seem 
good and not be so. The cloak of dis- 
ilation is a main part of the gar- 
ment spotted with the nesh ; a vice thus 
covered is worse than a naked offence. 
There is no devil to the hypocrite. 

Hid. 
Christian* Humility. 

Consedee the sanctity, the loftiness 
and the lowliness of the Christian spirit. 
The pagan philosophers have sometimes 
raised themselves above the rest of men, 
by a more temperate mode of life, and by 
sentiments which had a distant conform 



142 Pearls of Thought. 

itywith the gospel. But they never ac- 
knowledged humility as a virtue, nor 
was it indeed compatible with that class 
of virtues which they inculcated. It 
was reserved for Christianity to com- 
bine qualities, which till then appeared 
irreconcileable, and to teach mankind 
that humility is so far from being in- 
compatible with other virtues, that 
without it, all other virtues are but 
vices and defects. Pascal 

Man's Immortality. 
The immortality of the soul is a 
subject in which we are all so deeply 
and intimately concerned, that it ar- 
gues the most stupid insensibility not 
to make it the constant object of our 
reflections. All our actions and all our 
thoughts must take such different direc- 
tions, according as we cherish or reject 
the hope of eternity, that it is impossi- 
ble to act or determine rightly, unless 



Pearls of Thought. 143 

we regulate our conduct and decisions 
by a continual reference to this main 
and primary question. Pascal 

Religion and Reason. 
Piety is very different from super- 
stition. To suffer piety to degenerate 
into superstition, is to destroy its essen- 
tial character. But at the same time, 
there is nothing so truly reasonable, as 
to exclude reason from the province of 
faith ; and nothing so truly irrational, 
as to lose sight of reason in things 
which are not necessarily of faith. 
The two excesses are equally dangerous 
— to shut out reason, or to make it all 
in all. Faith tells us what the senses 
cannot tell, but it never contradicts 
them ; it is above and not against rea- 
son." Ibid. 

Little Sins. 
As I am fearful to act great sins, so 
I will be careful to avoid small sins. 



144 Pearls of Thought. 

He that contemns a small fault com- 
mits a great one. I see many drops 
make a shower : and what difference is 
it, whether I be wet either in the rain or 
in the river, if both be to the skin ? There 
is small benefit in the choice,whether we 
go down to hell by degrees, or at once. 

Warwick. 

Feigned Humility. 
How cunningly doth the prince of 
darkness take on him the form of an 
angel of light ! How often have seem- 
ing saints proved devils ! even in those 
things (lightly) most faulty, which they 
make a show of being most free from : 
some more proud of being thought 
plain than a flaunting gallant in his 
new fashion. Others refusing a de- 
served commendation, only with a de- 
sire to be commended for refusing it : 
the one hating pride with a more proud 
hatred, the other shunning praise with 
a greater vain glory. It is bad to have 



Pearls of Thought. 145 

vices, worse to dissemble them. Plato 
possessed his rich bed with less pride 
than Diogenes trampled on it. 

Warwick. 

Self-Praise. 

I will not much commend others to 
themselves, I will not at all commend 
myself to others. So to praise any to 
their faces is a kind of flattery ; but to 
praise myself to any is the height of 
folly. He that boasts his own praises, 
speaks ill of himself, and much dero- 
gates from his true deserts. It is wor- 
thy of blame to affect commendation. 

Hid. 
Vain Glory. 

Popular applause and vulgar opin- 
ion may blow up and mount upward 
the bubble of a vain glorious mind, till 
it burst in the air and vanish ; but a 
wise man builds his glory on the strong 
foundation of virtue, without expecting 
or respecting the vulgar props of vulgar 



146 Pearls of Thought. 

opinion. I will not neglect what every 
one thinks of me : for that were impu- 
dent dissoluteness. I will not make it my 
common care to hearken how I am 
cared for of the common sort, and be 
over solicitous what every one speaks 
of me; for that were a toilsome vanity. 
I may do well and hear ill, and that's 
a kingly happiness. Warwick. 

Cheerfulness in Age. 
As oft as I hear the robin red-breast 
chant it as cheerfully in September, 
the beginning of winter, as in March, 
the approach of the summer, why 
should not we (think I) give as cheerful 
entertainment to the hoary frosty hairs 
of our age's winter, as to the primroses 
of our youth's spring ! Why not to the 
declining sun in adversity, as (like Per- 
sians) to the rising sun in prosperity ? 
I am sent to the ant to learn industry ; 
to the dove to learn innocency ; to the 
serpent to learn wisdom ; and why not 



Pearls of Thought. HI 

to this bird to learn equanimity and 
. n-ce ; and to keep the same tenor 
of my mind's quietness, as well at the 
approach of calamity's winter, as of 
the spring of happiness I Warwick. 

Never too Late to Mend. 
As it is never too soon to be good, so 
is it never too late to amend : I will 
therefore neither neglect the time pre- 
sent, nor despair of the time past. If I 
had been sooner good, I might perhaps 
have been better; if I am longer bad 
I shall (I am sure) be worse. That I 
have stayed a long time idle in the 
market-place deserves reprehension ; 
but if I am late sent into the vineyard, 
I have encouragement to work, "I will 
give unto this last as unto thee.'' 

Ibid. 

Context. 
Content is the mark we all aim at, 

the chief good and top of felicity, to 



148 Pearls of Thought, 

which all men's actions strive to ascend : 
but it is solely proper to God's wisdom 
to engross all true content into his own 
hand, that he may sell it to saints by 
retail, and enforce all men to buy it of 
him, or want it. Hence is it, that a 
godly man, in his mean estate, enjoys 
more content in God, than a king or 
emperor in his earthly glory and mag- 
nificence. I will then strive to pur- 
chase me a patent of content from Mm 
that hath the monopoly thereof : and 
then, if I have little in estate, I shall 
have much in content. Warwick. 

Daily Duties. 
My morning haunts are where they 
should be, at home ; not sleeping, or 
concocting the surfeits of an irregular 
feast, but up and stirring ; in winter, 
often ere the sound of any bell awake 
men to labour, or to devotion ; in 
summer, as oft with the bird that first 



Pearls of Thought. 149 

rises, or not much, tardier, to read good 
authors, or cause them to be read, till 
the attention be weary, or memory 
have its full freight ; then with useful 
and generous labours preserving the 
body's health and hardiness, to render 
lightsome, *clear, and not lumpish obe- 
dience to the mind, to the cause of re- 
ligion and our country's liberty. 

Milton. 
Daily Reckoning. 
After my later meal, my thoughts 
are slight : only my memory may be 
charged with her task of recalling what 
was committed to her custody in the 
day : and my heart is busy in examin- 
ing my hands and mouth, and all other 
senses of that day's behaviour. And 
now the evening is come, no tradesman 
doth more carefully take in his wares, 
clear his shopboard, and shut his win- 
dows than I would shut up my thoughts 
and clear my mind. That student shall 



150 Pea+rls of Thought. 

live miserably, which like a camel lies 
down under his burden. All this done, 
calling together rny family, we end the 
day with God. Bp. Hall 

Sabbath Duties. 
Such are my common days ; but 
God's day calls for another respect. 
The same sun arises on this day, and 
enlightens it ; yet because the Sun of 
Righteousness arose upon it, and gave 
a new life unto the world in it, and 
drew the strength of God's moral pre- 
cept unto it, therefore justly do we 
sing with the psalmist : This is the day 
which the Lord hath made. Now I 
forget the world, and in a sort myself; 
and deal with my wonted thoughts, as 
great men use, who, at sometimes o± 
their privacy, forbid the access of all 
suitors. Prayer, meditation, reading, 
hearing, preaching, singing, good con- 
ference, are the businesses of this day, 



Pearls of Thought. 151 

which I dare not bestow on any work 
or pleasure, but heavenly. Bp. Hall. 

Morning Devotions. 

I would ever awake with God : my 
first thoughts are for Him who hath 
made the night for rest, and the day for 
travail ; and hath blessed both. If my 
heart be early seasoned with his pre- 
sence, it will savour of him all the day. 

Ibid. 
Studies. 

After some whiles meditation, I 
walk up to my masters and compan- 
ions, my books : and sitting down 
amongst them with the best content- 
ment, I dare not reach forth my hand 
to salute any of them, till I have first 
looked urj to heaven, and craved favour 
of him to whom all my studies are duly 
referred : without whom I can neither 
profit nor labour. After this, after no 
over great vanity, I call forth those 



152 Pearls of Thought. 

which may best fit my occasions, 
wherein I am not too scrupulous of 
age : sometimes I put myself to school 
to one of these ancients, whom the 
church hath honoured with the name 
of fathers; whose volumes I confess 
not to open without a secret reverence 
of their holiness and gravity :— some- 
times to their later doctors, which 
want nothing but age to make them 
classical : always to God's book : — that 
day is lost, whereof some hours are not 
improved in those divine monuments : 
others I turn over out of choice : these 
out of duty. $P- Z aU - 

The Covetous Man. 
The covetous person lives as if the 
world were made altogether for him, 
and not he for the w T orld ; to take in 
everything, and to part with nothing. 
Charity is accounted no grace with 
him, nor gratitude any virtue. The 



Pearls of Thought. 153 

cries of the poor never enter into his 
ears ; or if they do, he has always one 
ear readier to let them out than the 
other to take them in. In a word, by 
his rapines and extortions, he is always 
for making as many poor as he can, but 
for relieving none whom he either finds 
or makes so. So that it is a question, 
whether his heart be harder or his fist 
closer. In a word, he is a pest and a 
monster: greedier than the sea, and 
barrener than the shore. South. 

A Simile. 
Ix a quiet bend of the river, over- 
shadowed by trees, in a sequestered 
and rocky nook, little troubled by the 
foot of man, I disturbed a solitary heron, 
grey and motionless as the mossy stone 
on which he stood. Startled by my 
step, the stately bird took wing, and, 
circling slowly round, seemed reluctant 
to quit its haunt. Looking into the 



154 Pearls of Thought. 

deep water, I saw a lily spreading its 
pure white blossoms. So looked the 
infant Moses in his rushy bed. 

Thomas Fuller. 

Pleasures in Religion. 
The pleasure of the religious man is 
an easy and portable pleasure, such a 
one as he carries about in his bosom, 
without alarming either the eye or the 
envy of the world. A man putting all 
his pleasures into this one, is like a 
traveller's putting all his goods into 
one jewel; the value is the same, and 
the convenience greater. South. 

Recollection in Religion. 
Recollection is the life of religion. 
The Christian wants to know no new 
thing, but to have his heart elevated 
more above the world, by secluding 
himself from it as much as his duties 
will allow, that religion may effect its 
great end, by bringing its sublime 



Pearls of Thought. 155 

hopes and prospects into more steady 
action on the mind. Cecil. 

Moral Beauty. 

As amber attracts a straw, so does 
beauty admiration, which only lasts 
while the warmth continues ; but vir- 
tue, wisdom, goodness, and real worth, 
like the loadstone, never lose their power. 
These are the true graces which, as the 
poet feigns, are linked and tied hand in 
hand, because it is by their influence 
that human hearts are so firmly united 
to each other. Burton, 

Humility. 
Archbishop Usher was a man of dis- 
tinguished learning, piety, and dili- 
gence. The following circumstance 
will show that his humility equalled his 
other valuable endowments : — A friend 
of the Archbishop frequently urged him 
to write his thoughts on Sanctification^ 
which at length he engaged to do : but a 



156 Pearls of Thought. 

considerable time elapsing, the perform- 
ance of his promise was unfortunately 
claimed. The Bishop replied to this pur- 
pose : " I have not written, and yet I 
cannot charge myself with a breach of 
promise, for I began to write ; but when 
I came to treat of the new creature 
which God formeth by his own spirit in 
every regenerate soul, I found so little 
of it wrought in myself that I could 
speak of it only as parrots, or by rote, 
but without the knowledge of what I 
might have expressed ; and, therefore, 
I durst not presume to proceed any 
farther upon it." Upon this, his friend 
stood amazed to hear such an humble 
confession from so grave, holy, and em- 
inent a person. The Bishop then added*: 
" I must tell you, we do not well un- 
derstand what sanctification and the 
new creature are. It is no less than 
for a man to be brought to an entire 
resignation of his own will to the will 



Pearls of Thought. 157 

of God ; and to live in the offering up 
of his soul continually in the flames of 
love, as a whole burnt-offering to Christ; 
and oh, how many who profess Chris- 
tianity are unacquainted, experimental- 
ly, with this work upon their souls." 

Anon. 
Humility. 

Humility cannot be degraded by hu- 
miliation. It is its very character to 
submit to such things. There is a con- 
sanguinity between benevolence and 
humility. They are virtues of the same 
stock. BurJce. 

Modesty. 

Modesty is to merit, as shades to 
figures in a picture, giving it strength 
and beauty. Bw.yer. 

Social Intercourse. 
From social intercourse are derived 
some of the highest enjoyments of life. 
Where there is a free interchange of 



158 Pearls of Thought. 

sentiments, the mind acquires new ideas; 
and by a frequent exercise of its powers 
the understanding gains fresh vigor. 

Addison. 
True Knowledge. 
The end of learning is to know God, 
and out of that knowledge to love him 
and to imitate him, as we may the near- 
est by possessing our souls of true vir- 
tue. Milton. 

Hypocrisy in Religion. 
It is the greatest madness to be a 
hypocrite in religion. The world will 
hate thee because a Christian even in 
appearance ; and God will hate thee 
because so only in appearance; and 
thus, having the hatred of both, thou 
shalt have no comfort in either. 

Bishop Hall. 

Rules of Living. 
Hugh Peters, an English preacher 
of the seventeenth century, left as a 



Pearls of Thought. 



159 



legacy to Ins daughter, in the year 
1660, some rules of living, of which 
other persons would reap the benefit, if 
they would conform to his excellent 
standard. Whosoever would live long 
and blessedly, let him observe these fol- 
lowing rules, by which he shall attain 
that to which he desireth. Let thy 
Thoughts be Divine, awful, godly. 
Talk Little, honest, true. 

Works Profitable, holy, charitable. 

Manners Grave, courteous, cheerful. 
Diet Temperate, convenient, frugal 

Apparel Sober, neat, comely. 
Will Confident, obedient, ready. 

Sleep Moderate, quiet, seasonable. 

Prayers Short, devout, often, fervent. 

Recreation Lawful, brief, seldom. 
Memory Of death, punishment, glory. 

Dead Sinners. 
A poor sinner lies in his sins as Peter 
did in his chains, fast asleep, though a 
warrant was signed for his execution 



160 Pearls of Thought. 

the next day ; but the Spirit in the 
Word awakens him as the angel did 
Peter. Flavel 

The Body. 

The body is the soul's house, its "be* 
loved habitation — where it was born, 
and hath lived ever since it had a be- 
ing, and in which it enjoyed all its 
comforts. Upon this account the Apos- 
tle calls it the soul's home, (TTe are at 
home in the body. — 2 Cor. 5.) TTe may 
Bay of manv gracious souls, thev pav a 
dear rent for the house they dwell in. 

Ibid. 
The Heart. 

The heart of man is his worst part 
before it be regenerated, and the best 
afterwards : it is the seat of principles 
and the foundation of actions. The eye 
of God is, and the eye of the Christian 
ought to be. principally fixed upon it. 
The keeping of the heart is a work that 
is never done till life is ended. Heart- 



Pearls of Thought. 161 

neglect is a leak in the bottom — no 
heavenly influences, however rich, abide 
in that soul. The mind is to the heart, 
as the door to the house : what comes 
into the heart, comes in through the un- 
derstanding, and truths sometimes go 
no further than the entry, and never 
penetrate into the heart. -JW& 

Heart-work. 

Heajit-work is hard work indeed. 
To shuffle over religious duties with a 
loose and heedless spirit, will cost no 
great pains ; but to set thyself before 
the Lord, and tie up thy loose and vain 
thoughts to a constant and serious at- 
tendance upon him — this will cost thee 
something. Ibid. 

Prayer* 

AVe do not know the power of prayei 

— the might, the strength, that can 

prevail with God, himself. He has 

committed to us, and commanded us to 

11 



162 Pearls of Thought. 

use, this wondrous engine of power: 
but we are slow of heart, and weak in 
faith to believe His word, and so fail to 
receive the full blessing it is designed 
to impart. Anon. 

Soul and Body. 
The soul and body are as strings of 
two musical instruments, set exactly at 
one height ; if one be touched, the other 
trembles. They laugh and cry, are sick 
and well together. Flavel 

Human Reason. 
Polished steel will not shine in the 
dark ; no more can reason, however re- 
fined or cultivated, shine efficaicously, 
but as it reflects the light of Divine 
truth shed from heaven. Foster. 

Godliness. 
Godliness is the tendency of the 
mind towards God, and is exercised in 
believing in Him : loving and fearing 



Pearls of Thought. 163 

him — holding communion with him, 
and employing ourselves in his service, 
and consecrating all that we do to his 
honor. c/ay. 

Scepticism. 

"When once infidelity can persuade 
men that they shall die like beasts, they 
will soon be brought to live like beasts 
also. South. 

Perseverance. 

Here is encouragement to persever- 
ance, that Jesus Christ, our Head, is 
already in heaven. If the head be 

above water the body cannot drown. 

Flavel. 

,The Goodness of God. 
"Wherever we direct our eyes, wheth- 
er we reflect them inward upon our- 
selves, we behold God's goodness to 
occupy and penetrate the very root and 
centre of our beings ; or extend them 
abroad toward the things about us, we 
may perceive ourselves enclosed wholly, 



164 Pearls of Thought. 

and surrounded with his benefits. At 
home we find a comely body framed 
by his curious artifice, various organs 
fitly proportioned, situated and tem- 
pered for strength, ornament, and mo- 
tion, actuated by a gentle heat, and in- 
vigorated with lively spirits, disposed to 
health, and qualified for a long endur- 
ance : subservient to a soul endued with 
divers senses, faculties, and powers, apt 
to enquire after, pursue and perceive 
delights and contents. Or when we 
contemplate the wonderful works of 
nature, and walking about at our lei- 
sure, gaze upon this ample theatre of the 
world, considering the stately beauty, 
constant order and sumptuous furniture 
thereof ; the glorious splendor and 
uniform motion of the heavens, the 
pleasant fertility of the earth : the curi- 
ous figure and fragrant sweetness of 
plants, the exquisite frame of animals, 
and all other amazing miracles of na- 



Pearls of Thought. 1G5 

ture, wherein the glorious attributes of 
God (especially his transcendent good- 
ness) are most conspicuously displayed, 
(so that by them not only large ac- 
knowledgments, but even congratula- 
tory hymns, as it were, of praise, have 
been extorted from the mouths of Aris- 
totle, Pliny, Galen, and such like men, 
never suspected of excessive devotion) : 
then should our hearts be affected with 
thankful sense, and our lips break forth 
into his praise. Isaac Barrow. 

Idleness. 
Idleness is the dead sea that swal- 
lows up all virtues, and the self-made 
sepulchre of a living man. The idle 
man is the devil's urchin whose livery 
is rags, and whose diet and wages are 
famine and disease. !&& 

Self-Deception. 
Most men in the world, who perish 
eternally, perish for prevaricating with 



166 Pearls of Thought, 

themselves, and not living up to the 
judgment and resolves of their own 
knowledge ; they miss of their way to 
heaven, not because they do not know 
it, but because they know it and will 
not choose it. Stwtik 

Profession not Practice. 
Profession is only the' badge of a 
Christian, belief the beginning, but 
practice is the nature, and custom the 
perfection. For it is this which trans- 
lates Christianity from a bare notion 
into a real business ; from useless spec- 
ulations into substantial duties, and 
from an idea in the brain into an exist- 
ence in the life. An upright conversa- 
tion is the bringing of the general theo- 
rems of religion into the particular 
instances of solid experience ; and, if 
it were not for this, religion would exist 
nowhere but in the Bible. The grand 
deciding question at the last day will 



Pearls of Thought. 167 

be, not, "What have you said ! or, What 
have you believed i but, What have 
you done more than others ? South. 

The Sure Foundation. 

This, therefore, I affirm, that he who 
places his Christianity only in his heart, 
and his religion in his meaning, has 
fairly secured himself against a discov- 
ery in case he should have none ; but 
yet, for all that, shall, at the last, find 
his portion with those who indeed have 
none. And the truth is, those who are 
thus intentionally pious, do, in a very 
ill and untoward sense, verify that phil- 
osophical maxim, that what they so 
much pretend to be chief and first in 
their intention, is always last, if at all, 
in the execution. 

The result of all that I have said, or 
can say, is, that every spiritual builder 
would be persuaded to translate his 
foundation from the sand to the rock, 



168 Pearls of Thought. 

and not presume upon Christ as his 
Saviour, till by a full obedience to his 
laws he has owned him for his sover- 
eign. And this is properly to believe 
in him; this is truly to build upon 
a rock ; even that rock of Ages, upon 
which every one that wears the name 
of Christ must by an inevitable dilem- 
ma either build or split. South. 

Men's Hearts. 
We may stand and knock at men's 
hearts till our own ache, but no open- 
ing till Christ come. He can fit a key 
to all the cross wards of the will, and 
with sweet efficacy open it, and that 
without any force or violence to it 

Flacel. 

Abuse of Terms. 
One of the most powerful instruments 
of vice, the most fatal of all its poi- 
soned weapons, is the abuse of words, 
by which good and bad feelings are 



Pearls of Thought. 169 

blended together, and its deformity 
concealed from an apparent alliance to 
some proximate virtue. Prodigality 
and dissipation are liberality and high 
spirit ; covetousness, frugality ; flat- 
tery, good breeding. As society ad- 
vances in civilization the power of this 
engine does not diminish. 

Basil Montagu. 

Ideas. 
Bred to think, as well as to think by 
rote, we furnish our minds as we fur- 
nish our houses — with the fancies of 
others, and according to the mode and 
age of our country; we pick up our 
ideas and notions in common conversa- 
tion, as in schools. BolingbroTce. 

Principles. 
How lightly soever some men may 
speak of notions, yet so long as the sou] 
governs the body, men's notions must 



170 Pearls of Thought. 

influence their actions, more or less, as 
they are stronger or weaker; and to 
good or evil, as they are better or 
worse. Berkeley. 

Industry. 

If industry is no more than habit, 
'tis at least an excellent one. If you 
ask me which is the real hereditary sin 
of human nature, do you imagine I 
shall answer pride, or luxury, or ambi- 
tion, or egotism ? No — I shall answer 
indolence. What conquers indolence, 
will conquer all the rest. Indeed, all 
good principles must stagnate without 
mental activity. Zimmerman. 

Knowledge. 
I esty no man that knows more 
than myself, but pity them that know 
less. Sir T. Broicne. 

Death. 
We are born, it is said, with the 
seed or principles of dissolution in our 



Pearls of Thought . 171 

frame, which continue to operate from 
our birth to our death ; so that in this 
sense we may be said to i% die daily." 
Death, therefore, is not so much a lay- 
ing aside our old bodies, (for this we 
have been doing all our lives.) as ceas- 
ing to assume new ones. Did Locke 
determine rightly, when he made per- 
sonal identity to consist in conscious- 

fiessf Anon. 

Memory. 
TTithout memory the judgment must 
be unemployed, and ignorance must be 
the consequence. Pliny says it is one 
of the greatest gifts of nature. 

Montaigne. 
Conscience. 

Conscience is a dangerous thing, — it 
makes a man a coward, — a man cannot 
steal, but it checks him. It is a blus- 
tering, shame-faced-spiritjthat mutinies 
in a man's bosom ; it fills one with obsta- 
cles ; it beggars any man that keeps it ; 



172 Pearls of Thought. 

it is turned out of towns and cities for 
a dangerous thing; and every man 
that means to live well, endeavors to 
trust to himself, and live without it. 

Shafapeare. 
Consciousness. 

Consciousness is the immediate knowl- 
edge which the mind has of its sensa- 
tions and thoughts, and in general of all 
its present operations. "We cannot 
properly be said to be conscious of our 
own existence; it being only suggested 
to us by those sensations and operations 
ef which we are conscious. 

Wollaston. 
Choice of Books. 

An old Latin proverb bids us beware 
of the man of one book ; thereby teach- 
ing that a single author, well studied, is 
better than many, superficially perused. 
There is great force in this maxim, if 
the solitary book be one that discusses 
great principles, and contains in it the 



Pearls of Thought. 173 

seed-truths of human conduct. Sir 
Alexander Johnstone, when acting as 
Governor of Ceylon, was greatly sur- 
prised at the acumen displayed by a 
native juryman in a trial for murder. 
The testimony was full and explicit 
concerning tl^e guilt of the defendant, 
and the judge was about to charge the 
jury accordingly, when one of their 
number, a Cingalese farmer, requested 
leave to examine the witnesses. He 
had them brought in, one by one, and 
cross-examined them so ably as to elicit 
the fact, that they were perjured con- 
spirators, and in fact the very authors 
of the crime which they were charging 
upon another. Admiring the intelli- 
gence of the juryman, the Governor in- 
quired what had been his studies. He 
replied that he had never read but one 
book, and that was the " Organon" of 
Aristotle. This he had made the com- 
panion of all his leisure hours. Still 



174 Pearls of Thought. 

more astonished at this assertion, ho 
made farther inquiry as to the existence 
of such a treatise in the Cingalese 
tongue, and ascertained that the Portu- 
guese, when first settled in Ceylon, 
translated Aristotle's Organon from the 
original Greek into the Cingalese dia- 
lect, and that this farmer owned a copy 
of that old version. He had thoroughly 
disciplined his mind by the study of it. 

Anon. 
Fluency of Speech. 
The common fluency of speech in 
many men, and most women, is owing 
to a scarcity of matter and a scarcity of 
words ; for whoever is a master of lan- 
guage and has a mind full of ideas, will 
be apt in speaking, to hesitate upon the 
choice of both ; whereas common speak- 
ers have only one set of ideas, and one 
set of words to clothe them in ; and 
these are always ready at the mouth : 
so people come faster out of a church 



Pearls of Thought. 115 

when it is almost empty, than when a 
crowd is at the door. Swift. 

Men Seldom Reason. 
Man is not a reasoning animal ; the 
best you can predicate of him is, that 
he is an animal capable of reason, and 
this, too, we take upon old tradition: 
for it has not been my fortune yet to 
meet, I will not say with any one man, 
but I may safely say with any one order 
of men, who ever did reason. 

Warburtorts Letters. 

Momentous Questions. 

Do I prayerfully peruse the Divine 
Scriptures, daily ? 

Do I believe in the infinite merits 
and love of Christ ? 

Do I heartily and habitually repent 
of all my conscious sins ? 

Do I desire holiness as ardently as I 
desire happiness ? 



176 Pearls of Thought. 

What fruits of Faith do I bear? 

Do I daily strive to deny flesh and 
sense, take up my Cross and aim to fol- 
low Christ ? 

Do I hourly seek to avoid all occa- 
sions of sin, and is the temper of my 
mind habitually like the example of my 
Saviour ? Anon. 

Self-Love. 
The motives of the best actions will 
not bear too strict an inquiry. It is 
allowed that the cause of most actions, 
good or bad, may be resolved into the 
love of ourselves ; but the self-love of 
some men inclines them to please others ; 
and the self-love of others is wholly 
employed in pleasing themselves. This 
makes the great distinction between vir- 
tue and vice. Swift. 

Liberty. 
Libekty is to the collective body, 
what health is to every individual body. 



Pearls of Thought. 177 

Without health, no pleasure can be 

tasted by man ; without Liberty, no 
happiness can be enjoyed by society. 

B ol in qb voice. 

Of Abuses. 
There is a time when men will not 
suffer bad things because their ances- 
tors have suffered worse. There is a 
time when the hoary head of inveter- 
ate abuse will neither draw reverence 
nor obtain protection. Burke, 

Error. 
A max should never be ashamed to 
own he has been in the wrong, which 
is but saying in other words, that he is 
wiser to-day than he was yesterday. 

Pope. 
Brains and Reasoning. 

Ix my opinion the brain has a very 

unpromising aspect for such a business, 

(thinking.) It looks like an odd sort of 

bog for fancy to paddle in. When I 

12 



178 Pearls of Thought. 

see people tread sense out of mud, as 
they do eels, then I may be inclined to 
believe that brains and reasoning are 
of a kin. In the mean time I desire to 
be excused. Jeremy Collier. 

Ignorance. 
It is impossible to make people un- 
derstand their ignorance ; for it re- 
quires knowledge to perceive it; and 
therefore he that can perceive it, hath it 
not. Bishop Taylor. 

Manners Contagious. 
It is certain, that either wise bearing, 
or ignorant carriage, is caught, as men 
take diseases, one of another; there- 
fore, let men take heed of their com- 
pany. ShaJcspeare. 

Of Abilities. 

The abilities of man must fall short 

on one side or other, like too scanty a 

blanket when you are a-bed; if you 

pull it upon your shoulders, you leave 



Pearls of Thought. 179 

your feet bare ; if you thrust it down 
upon your feet, your shoulders are un- 
covered. Sir W. Temple. 

Happiness. 
That all who are happy are equally 
happy, is not true. A peasant and a 
philosopher may be equally satisfied, 
but not equally happy. Johnson. 

Beauty. 
Beauty, though it is a pretty varnish, 
yet is of a frail constitution, liable to 
abundance of accidents, and is but a 
short-lived blessing at the best. 

Jeremy Collier. 

The Double-minded. 
Leaex to be one man ; that is, learn to 
live and act alike, for while we act from 
contrary principles, sometimes give, and 
sometimes defraud; sometimes love, 
and sometimes betray; sometimes are 
devout, and sometimes careless of God, 



180 Pearls of Thought. 

this is to be two men, which is a fool- 
ish aim, and always ends in a loss of 
pains. No ! says wise Epictetus ; learn 
to be one man ; thou mayest be a good 
man, or thou mayest be a bad man, and 
that to the purpose ; but it is impossi- 
ble that thou shouldst be both. And 
here the Philosopher tiad the happiness 
to fall in exactly with the notion of the 
text : — Te cannot serve two masters. 

Bean Young. 

Aids to Religion. 

Lord, with what care hast thou begirt 
us round, 

Parents first season us; then school- 
masters 

Deliver us to laws ; they send us bound 

To rules of reason, holy messengers, 

Pulpits and Sundays ; sorrow dogging 
sin, 

Affections sorted, anguish of all sizes ; 

Line nets and stratagems, to catch us 
in; 



Pearls of Thought, 181 

Bibles laid open ; millions of surprises; 

Blessings beforehand, ties of grateful- 
ness ; 

The sound of glory ringing in our ears; 

Without, our shame ; within, our con- 
sciences ; 

Angels and Grace ; eternal hopes and 
fears. 

Yet all these fences, and their whole 
array, 

One cunning bosom sin blows quite 
away. Herbert. 

Christian Evidences. 
Christian practice, as an evidence 
to a man's own-self of the sincerity of 
his religion, is much to be preferred to 
any discoveries or exercises of grace 
whatever, that begin and end in con- 
templation. Sincerity in religion con- 
sists in setting God highest in the heart, 
in choosing him above all things. But 
a man's actions are the proper trial 



182 Pearls of Thought. 

what a man's heart prefers. To forsake 
all for Christ in heart, is the very same 
thing as to have a heart to forsake all 
for Christ; but certainly the proper 
trial whether a man has a heart to for- 
sake all for Christ's sake, is his being 
actually put to it, actually doing it 
when other things come in competition 
with it, or so far as called to it. God- 
liness consists not in a heart to intend 
to do the will of God, but in a heart to 
do it. Jonathan Edwards. 

Character the Test of Religion. 
There is, indeed, a mighty work to 
be done ere we die ; that of resisting 
the desires and the habits of nature, till 
they are at least vanquished, if not ex- 
terminated; that of transmuting the 
character of earth which we have at the 
first, into the character of heaven which 
we must acquire afterwards, else heaven 
we never shall reach. The distance, 



Pearls of Thought. 183 

great as it is between the two states, 
must be traversed on this side of death, 
or we shall never attain a state of bless- 
edness on the other side of death. 

Chalmers. 

Probation. 
This life is a state of probation and 
exercise like to that (which prefigured 
and represented it) of God's people in 
the wilderness, wherein God leadeth us 
through many difficulties and hazards, 
in many wants and hardships, to hum- 
ble and prove us, in order to the fitting 

us for another more happy state. 

Barrow. 

Repentance and Faith. 
It is not so easy, nor so common a 
thing to repent and believe, as igno- 
rant, presumptuous sinners do imagine. 
By the time you have learnt what is 
needful ta be learnt for a sound repent- 
ance, a saving faith, and a holy life, 
you w r ill find that you have far greater 



184 Pearls of Thought. 

business with God than with all the 
world. Baxter. 

Danger of Prosperity. 
It is the bright day that brings forth 
the adder. Think of God when the 
tempter says, "All this will I give 
thee." Trust not the insolvent world ; 
it has cheated every creditor that ever 
trusted it ; and it will cheat you. 

Hannah More. 
Self-Denial. 
To think of religion in any other 
sense, than as a state of self-denial, is 
knowing nothing at all of it: for its 
whole nature is to direct us by a light, 
and knowledge, and wisdom from God ; 
which is all contrary to the darkness, 
ignorance, and folly of our natures. 

Law. 
Accusations of Conscience. 

Upon me lies a burden whjch I can- 
not shift upon any other human crea- 
ture — the burden of duties unfulfilled, 



Pearls of Thought. 185 

words unspoken, or spoken violently 
and untruly ; of holy relationships neg- 
lected; of days wasted forever; of evil 
thoughts once cherished, which are ever 
appearing as fresh as when they were 
first admitted into the heart ; of talents 
cast away ; of affections in myself, or 
in others, trifled with ; of light within 
turned to darkness. So speaks the con- 
science ; so speaks, or has spoken, the 
conscience of each man. Maurice, 

Moral Insensibility. 
Astonishing fact, that what all man- 
kind acknowledge the greatest, they 
care about the least ; as first, on the 
summit of all greatness, the Deity. 
" 'Tis acknowledged he reigns over all, 
is present always here, prevails in each 
atom and each star, observes us as an 
awful Judge, claims infinite regard, is 
supremely good — What then? Why, 
think nothing at all about him ! 



186 Pearls of Thought. 

"There is Eternity; you have lived, 
perhaps, thirty years; you are by no 
means entitled to expect much more 
life ; you, at the utmost, will soon, very 
soon die ; What follows? Eternity! a 
boundless region ; inextinguishable life : 
myriads of mighty and strange spirits ; 
vision of God, glories, horrors. What 
then ? Why, think nothing at all about 
it ! " John Foster. 

Fame. 

The way to fame, is like the way to 
heaven, through much tribulation. 

Sterne. 
Choice of Books. 

Some books are to be tasted ; others 
to be swallowed, and some few to be 
chewed, and digested: that is, some 
books are to be read only in parts: 
others to be read, but not curiously, and 
some few to be read wholly and with 
diligence and attention. Some books, 
also, may be read by deputy, and ex- 



Pearls of Thought, is; 

tracts made oi them by others ; but 
that would be only in the less impor- 
tant and meaner sort of books ; else dis- 
tilled books are like common distilled 
waters, flashy things. &** 

Faith and Works. 
Faith and works are as necessary to 
the spiritual life of the Christian, as 
soul and body are to our life as men : 
for faith is the soul of religion and 
works the body. Colton. 

Physiognomy. 
What can be more significant than 
the sudden flushing and confusion of a 
blush, than the sparklings of rage, and 
the lightnings of a smile I The soul is, 
as it were, visible upon these occasions ; 
the passions ebb and flow in the cheeks ; 
and are much better distinguished in 
their progress than the change of the air 
in a weather-glass. A face well fur- 



Pearls of Thought. 



rushed out by nature, and a little disci- 
plined, has a great deal of rhetoric in it. 
A graceful presence bespeaks accept 
ance, gives a force to language, and 
helps to convince by look and posture. 
Jeremy Collier. 

Mental Activity. 
As the fire-fly shines only when on 
the wing, so it is with the human mind 
— when at rest, it darkens. Anon. 

Indecision. 
To be always intending to live a new 
life, but never to find time to set about 
it, is as if a man should put off eating 
and drinking from one day to another, 
till he is starved and destroyed. 

TilloUon. 

Leisure Hours. 
There is room enough in human life 
to crowd almost every art and science 
in it. If we pass " no day without a 



Pearls of Thought. 189 

line " — visit no place without the com- 
pany of a book — we may with ease 
fill libraries, or empty them of their 
contents. The more we do, the more 
we can do ; the more busy we are, the 
more leisure we have ; and it is an old 
maxim — " He hath no leisure w r ho useth 
it not." Eazlitt. 

Our Divine Redeemer. 
When he had not where to lay his 
head, he was not the less " God over all, 
blessed forever." When, w r earied, he 
rested on Jacob's w T ell, the pillars of 
heaven and the foundations of the earth 
rested securely on his sustaining power. 
And never did he give so splendid a 
proof that he was indeed the Life, as 
when he died. For the mystery and 
the marvel which angels desired to look 
into was, how he by any possibility 
could die. Had he been fallen and 
sinful, and thus incapable of escaping 
death, there could have been no mys- 



190 Pearls of Thought. 

tery, nothing strange in the matter. 
But they knew not all the extent of his 
power, they knew not that he had the 
keys of hell and of death, and that re- 
belling as they were against heaven, 
they were still completely subject to 
him, till they saw him tread the region 
of mortality, and enter at his own plea- 
sure, unsubdued, unharmed, and as a 
conqueror, into their dreary domain. 
Then indeed when he died did they 
know, and for the first time know, in all 
the extent of its meaning, that he was 
the Life. In the depth of his humiliation 
he was not less God, nor less powerful 
and glorious, than in the height of his 
exaltation. Nay, in his death he was 
giving the most decisive proof of his 
Godhead ; for he was showing that he 
possessed a power which no mere crea- 
ture can ever possess, a power to lay 
down a life which had been forfeited 
by no sin, was demanded of him by no 



Pearls of Thought. 191 

laWj and could be taken of him by no 
power. In dying lie proved himself to 
be the Lord of life and death. When 
crucified he was still the " Lord of 
glory," not less, nor, to the intelligent 
eye, less conspicuously, than when, as- 
cending up on high, he led captivity 
captive, and received gifts for men. It 
is justly argued by Gregory iSTyssen, 
that the humiliation of our Lord was a 
much more splendid exhibition of his 
divine power than the magnitude of the 
heavens, the splendor of their lumina- 
ries, the embellishments of the universe, 
or the perpetual admiration of all na- 
ture. Anon. 
Prayer. 

Fill up the void spaces of your time 
with meditation and prayer. 

They are the safest who are most in 
their closets; who pray, not to be seen 
of men, but to be heard of God. 

It is a comfort to Christians apart to 



192 Pearls of Thought. 

think their prayers meet before a throne 
of grace ; and their persons shall meet 
before a throne of glory. 

There wants nothing but a believing 
prayer to turn a promise into a per- 
formance. 

God is a great God, and therefore he 
will be sought ; he is a good God, and 
therefore he will be found. 

The breath of prayer comes from the 
life of faith. 

"Whatever you want, go to God by 
faith and prayer, in the name of Christ, 
and never think his delays are denials. 

They that spend their days in faith 
and prayer, shall end their days in 
peace and comfort. J- Mason. 

Choice of Books. 
As it is evident that no one can learn 
all things perfectly, it seems best for a 
man to make some pursuit his main ob- 
ject; first, according to his calling; 
secondly, his natural bent / or, thirdly, 



fp"" 



'Pearls of Thought. 193 

his opportunities. Then let him get a 
slight knowledge of what else is worth 
it, — regulated in his choice by the same 
three circumstances ; which should also 
determine, in a great measure, where 
an elementary and where a superficial 
knowledge is desirable. Wheafley. 

God and the World. 
This, I say, is the sum and force of 
our Saviour's argument, in pursuit of 
which, we are to observe, that there 
are two things which offer themselves 
to mankind, as rivals for their affec- 
tions, to wit, God and the world, the 
things of this present life and of the 
future. And the whole strength of our 
Saviour's discourse bears upon this 
supposition, that it is impossible for a 
man to fix his heart upon both. Xo 
man can make religion his business and 
the world too : no man can have two 
chief goods. 
13 



194 Pearls of Thought. 

Nevertheless, let men rest assured 
of this, that God has so ordered the 
great business of their eternal happi- 
ness, that their affections must still be 
the forerunners of their persons; the 
constant harbingers appointed by God 
to go and take possession of those glori- 
ous mansions for them; and conse- 
quently, that no man shall ever come 
to heaven himself, who has not sent his 
heart thither before him. For where 
this leads the way, the other will be 
sure to follow. Robert South. 

Imitation. 

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery. 

Cotton. 
Knowledge of God. 

We may truly conceive of God, 
though we cannot fully conceive of 
him. "We may have right apprehen- 
sions of him, though not an exact com- 
prehension of him. 



Pearls of Thought, 195 

Xothing is great enough for him to 
admire, who is infinite Majesty ; nothing 
is mean enough for him to despise, who 
is infinite Mercy. 

What pleaseth God should please us, 

because it pleaseth God. 

A sight of God begins a saint on 

earth, and perfects him in heaven. 

Mason. 

Of Repentance. 

Repentance begins in the humilia- 
tion of the heart, and ends in the refor- 
mation of the life. 

Though we vrank power to repent, yet 
we do not want means to repent, nor 
power to use these means. 

He that repents of sin as sin, doth 
implicitly repent of all sin. 

Let not sinful pleasures prevent god- 
ly sorrows. 

An humble confession of sin brings 
shame to ourselves, but glory to God. 

If we put oil our repentance to 



196 Pearls of Thought. 

another day, we have a day more to 
repent of, a day less to repent in. 

If we study to honor God, we cannot 
do it better than by confessing our sins, 
and laying ourselves low at the feet of 
Christ. 

Godly sorrow is the sorrow of love ; 
the melting of the heart : Love is the 
pain and pleasure of a mourning heart. 

Mason. 
Thoughts for the Closet. 

The soul is the life of the body. Faith 
is the life of the soul. Christ is the life 
of faith. 

Afflictions may buzz and hum about 
the believer, like bees that have lost 
their sting: but thev can never hurt 
him. 

Prosperous providences are, for the 
most part, a dangerous state to the soul. 
The moon never suffers an eclipse but 
at the full. 

Many graceless hearts are like chil- 



Pearls of Thought 



197 



dren's tops, which will go no longer than 
they are whipped. 

The more any renewed heart tastes 
the sweetness of communion with God, 
by so much more it is disposed for uni- 
ty and peace with his people. Flavel 

False Doctrine. 
Of two evils, it is, perhaps, less in- 
jurious to society, that a good doctrine 
should be accompanied by a bad life, 
than that a good life should accompany 
or lend its support to a bad doctrine. 
For the sect, if once founded, will sur- 
vive the founder. Cotton. 

Vice and Virtue. 
Vice stings us even in our pleasures, 
but virtue consoles us even in our pains. 

Ibid. 

Pilgrim-Life of the Christian. 
If men are pilgrims and life a journey 
— the Christian pilgrimage far surpasses 



198 Pearls of Thought. 

all others — in the goodness of the road, 
the beauty of the prospects, the excel- 
lence of the company, and in the vastly 
superior accommodations which await 
the traveller at the end of his journey. 

Colton. 

Repentance. 
The slightest sorrow for sin is suffi- 
cient, if it produce amendment — the 
greatest is insufficient, if it do not. 

Ibid. 

Subjection of our Passions. 
Strong as our passions are, they may 
be starved into submission, and con- 
quered without being killed. Ibid. 

The Mind. 
He that doubts the existence of mind, 
by doubting, proves it. Ibid. 

The Penalties of Vice. 
The martyrs to vice far exceed the 
martyrs to virtue, both in endurance 



Pearls of Thought. 199 

and in number; so blinded are we by 
our passions, that we suffer more to be 
damned than to be saved. Golton. 

The Head and Heart. 
Faults of the head are punished in 
this world, those of the heart in anoth- 
er ; but as most of our vices are com- 
pound, so also will be their punishment. 

Ibid. 

Mental Destitution. 
He that has no resources of mind, is 
more to be pitied than he who is in 
want of necessaries for the body, and 
to be obliged to beg our daily happi- 
ness from others, bespeaks a more 
lamentable poverty than that of him 
who begs his daily bread. Ibid. 

Mental Influence. 
Some men of a secluded and studious 
life, have sent forth from their closet or 
their cloister, rays of intellectual light 



200 Pearls of Thought. 

that have agitated courts, and revo- 
lutionized kingdoms; like the moon 
which, though far removed from the 
ocean, and shining upon it with a 
serene and sober light, is the chief 
cause of all those ebbings and Sowings 
which incessantly disturb that world of 
waters. Colton. 

The True Christian. 

The Christian is a man, and more; 
an earthly saint, an angel clothed in 
flesh, the only lawful image of his 
Maker and Redeemer ; the abstract of 
God's church on earth ; a model of 
heaven, made up in clay; the living 
temple of the Holy Ghost. 

For his disposition, it hath in it as 
much of heaven as his earth may make 
room for. 

He were not a man, if he were quite 
free from corrupt affections ; but these 
he masters, and keeps in with a strait 
hand, and if at any time they grow 



Pearls of Thought. 201 

testy and headstrong, he breaks them 
with a severe discipline, and will rather 
punish himself than not tame them. 
He checks his appetite with discreet, 
but strong denials, and forbears to 
pamper nature, lest it grows wanton 
and impetuous. He walks on earth, 
but converses in heaven, having his 
eye fixed on the invisible world, and 
enjoying a sweet communion with God 
his Saviour. While all the rest of the 
world sits in darkness, he lives in a per- 
petual light. Bishop Hall 

Value of the Soul. 

Who can fix the adequate price to a 
human soul i " What shall it profit a 
man if he gain the whole world and 
lose his own soul ! or what shall a man 
give in exchange for his soul { " 

The principles of ordinary arithmetic 
all fail here, and we are constrained to 
say that, He alone who paid the ran- 



202 Pearls of Thought. 

som for sinners, and made the souls of 
men his purchased possession, can com- 
prehend and solve the arduous ques- 
tion. They are indeed bought with a 
price ; but are not redeemed with cor- 
ruptible things, as silver and gold, but 
with the precious blood of Christ, as of 
a lamb without blemish and without 
spot. We shall only ascertain the value 
of a soul, when we shall be fully able 
to estimate the worth of a Saviour. 

Zegh Richmond. 

Temptation. 
If you would not be foiled by tempta- 
tion, do not enter into a dispute with 
Satan. When Eve began to argue the 
case with the serpent, the serpent was 
too hard for her ; the devil, by his logic, 
disputed her out of Paradise. Satan 
can mince sin, make it small, and var- 
nish it over, and make it look like vir- 
tue. Satan is too subtle a sophister to 



Pearls of Thought. 203 

hold an argument with him. Dispute 
not, but fight. If you enter into a par- 
ley with Satan, you give him half the 
victory. Anon. 

Spiritual Blindness. 
"We say of the blind man, from whom 
the visible world is shut out, that he is 
poorer by half the world than the man 
who sees. O ye spiritually blind, ye, 
indeed, are poorer than we by a whole 
world. TholucTc. 

Evidence of Grace. 
"To be amended by a little cross, 
afraid of a little sin, and affected by a 
little mercy, is a good evidence of grace 
in the soul." Anon. 

Christian Graces. 
Our service to God must not be in 
outward works and scenes of religion, 
it must be something by which we be- 
come like to God ; the divine preroga- 



204 Pearls of Thought. 

tive must extend beyond the outward 
man ; nay, even beyond the mortifica- 
tion of corporeal vices ; the Spirit of 
God must enter in, and mollify all our 
secret pride, and ingenerate in us, a 
true humility, and a Christian meekness 
of spirit, and a divine charity. 

Jeremy Taylor, 
Mercy. 
Mercy is like the rainbow which 
God set in the heavens as a remem- 
brancer to man. We must not look 
for it after night ; it shines not in the 
other world. If we refuse mercy here, 
we must have justice in eternity. 

Ibid. 
Heavenly-Mindedness. 

Let the mantle of worldly enjoyment 
hang loose about you, that it may be 
safely dropped when death comes to 
carry you into another world. When 
the fruit is ripe it falls off the tree easi- 
ly. So when a Christian's heart is truly 



Pearls of Thought. 205 

weaned from the world, tie is prepared 
for death. A heart disengaged from 
the world is a heavenly one, and then 
we are ready for heaven when our 
heart is there before us. Anon. 

The Subjection of the Body. 
The Christian is justified and filled 
with all good, and made a true son of 
God, by faith alone. Yet while he re- 
mains upon earth in this mortal state, 
he must keep his body in subjection, 
and perform those duties which result 
from an intercourse with his fellow- 
creatures. Here, then, it is, in the 
Christian scheme, that works are to be 
placed ; here it is that sloth and indo- 
lence are forbidden ; and here the con- 
vert is bound to take care that, by fast- 
ing, watching, labor, and other suitable 
means, his body be so exercised and 
subdued to the spirit, that it may obey 
and conform to the inward and new 



206 Pearls of Thought. 

man, and not rebel and obstruct the 
operations of faith, as it is naturally in- 
clined to do, if not restrained. For the 
inward man, being created after the 
image of God, by faith rejoices through 
Christ, in whom he possesses so great 
treasure; and hence his only employ- 
ment and delight are to serve God free- 
ly in love. Luther. 

Life Like a River. 
Bishop Heber, upon departing for 
India, said, in his farewell sermon : — 
" Life bears us on like the stream of a 
mighty river. Our boat at first goes 
down the mighty channel — through the 
playful murmuring of the little brook, 
and the willows upon its glassy borders. 
The trees shed their blossoms over our 
young heads, the flowers on the brink 
seem to offer themselves to our young 
hands; we are happy in hope, and 
grasp eagerly at the beauties around 



Pearls of Thought. 207 

us ; the stream hurries on, and still our 
hands are empty. Our course in youth 
and in manhood is along a wider, deep- 
er flood, and amid objects more striking 
and magnificent. We are animated 
by the moving picture of enjoyment 
and industry passing us ; we are excited 
by our short-lived enjoyments. The 
stream bears us on, and joys and 
griefs are left behind us. We may be 
shipwrecked, but we cannot be de- 
layed ; for, rough or smooth, the river 
hastens towards its home, till the roar 
of the ocean is in our ears, and the 
waves beneath our feet, and the floods 
are lifted up around us, and we take 
our leave of earth and its inhabitants, 
until of our further voyage there is no 
witness save the Infinite and Eternal." 

Idleness. 
Some one in casting up his accounts, 
put down a very large sum per annum 



208 Pearls of Thought. 

for his idleness. But there is another 
account more awful than that of our 
expenses, in which many will find that 
their idleness has mainly contributed 
to the balance against them. From its 
very inaction, idleness ultimately be- 
comes the most active cause of evil ; — 
as a palsy is more to be dreaded than a 
fever. Fuller. 

Pride. 

There is a paradox in pride — it 
makes some men ridiculous, but pre- 
vents others from becoming so. Ibid. 

Free-Thinkers. 
Some Sciolists have discovered a 
short path to celebrity. Having heard 
that it is a vastly silly thing to believe 
every thing, they take it for granted 
that it must be a vastly wise thing to 
believe nothing. They, therefore, set 
up for free-thinkers ; but their stock in 
trade is, that they are free from think 



Pearls of Thought. 209 

ing. No persons make so large a de- 
mand against the reason of others, as 
those who have none of their own ; as 
a highwayman will take greater liber- 
ties with our purse than our banker. 

Fuller. 

The Ills of Life. 
Theee are three modes of bearing the 
ills of life: by indifference, w 7 hich is 
the most common; by philosophy, 
which is the most ostentatious ; and by 
religion, which is the most effectual ; for 
it is religion alone that can teach us to 
bear them with resignation. Ibid. 

Watchfulness. 
How vain to hear much, but to re- 
tain little, and practise less ! How 
vain to excite in our hearts sacred and 
holy emotions, unless we are afterwards 
careful to close the outlet by diligent 
reflection and prayer, and so preserve 
it unspotted from the world ! Neglect 



210 Pearls of Thought. 

this, and the strength and spirit of de- 
votion evaporate, and leave only a 
lifeless froth behind. Anon, 

Hope and Experience. 
Hope is a prodigal young heir, and 
experience is his banker ; but his drafts 
are seldom honored, since there is often 
a heavy balance against him, because 
he draws largely on a small capital, is 
not yet in possession, and if if he were, 
would die. Fuller. 

Faith and Practice. 
We should act with as much energy 
as those who expect every thing from 
themselves ; and we should pray with 
as much earnestness as those who ex- 
pect every thing from God. Ibid. 

Following Providence. 
If in a dark business we perceive 
God to guide us by the lantern of his 
providence, it is good to follow the 



Pearls of Thought. 2.11 

light close, lest we lose it by lagging 
behind. Fuller. 

Life a Shadow. 
Nothing survives but the mass of hu- 
man life ; and that not blended as be- 
fore, but each one as several and apart 
as if none lived before God but he only. 
And so of all the course and history of 
the world ; all is either passed or pass- 
ing away ; nothing remains but the 
record of human life, in the book of 
the Eternal, and the stream of undy- 
ing spirits which is ever issuing from 
among us into the world unseen. And 
thus it is that all that is real in the 
world is ever passing out of it ; tarry- 
ing for a while in the midst of shadows 
and reflections, and then, as it were, 
melting out of sight. Manning. 

Grave Thoughts. 
To smell to a turf of fresh earth is 
wholesome for the body ; no less are 



212 Pearls of Thought. 

thoughts of mortality cordial to the 
soul. Earth thou art, and unto earth 
shalt thou return. Fuller. 

Procrastination in Religion. 
Men are ever beguiling themselves 
with the dream that they shall be one 
day what they are not now ; they bal- 
ance their present consciousness of a 
low worldly life, and of a mind heavy 
and dull to spiritual things, with the lazy 
thought that some day God will bring 
home to them in power the realities of 
faith in Christ. So men dream away 
their lives in pleasures, sloth, trade, 
or study. Who is there that has not 
at some time secretly indulged the 
soothing flattery, that the staid gravity 
of age, when youth is quelled, or the 
leisure of retirement, when the fret of 
busy life is over, or, it may be, the in- 
evitable pains and griefs which are 
man's inheritance, shall one day break 



Pearls of Thought. 213 

up in his heart the now sealed fountain 
of repentance, and mate, at last, his 
religion a reality ? Who has not al- 
layed the uneasy consciousness of a 
meagre religion with the hope of a fu- 
ture change? Who has not thus been 
mocked by the enemy of man ? 

Manning. 
Thankfulness. 
My honest scholar, to incline you the 
more to thankfulness, let me tell you 
that, although the prophet David was 
guilty of many deadly sins, yet he was 
said to be a man after God's own heart, 
because he abounded more with thank- 
fulness than any other that is mentioned 
in Holy Scripture, as may appear in his 
book of Paslms ; where there is such 
a commixture of his confessing of his 
sins, and un worthiness, and such thank- 
fulness for God's pardon, and mercies, 
as did make him to be accounted even 
bv God himself to be a man after His 



214 Pearls of Thought. 

own heart. I will tell you, scholar. I 
have heard a grave divine say that God 
has two dwellings — one in heaven, and 
the other in a meek and thankful heart. 

Walton. 
Moderation. 
jModekation is the silken string run- 
ning through the pearl chain of all 
virtues. Fuller. 

Curiosity. 
CufwIosity is a kernel of the forbid- 
den fruit, which still sticketh in the 
throat of a natural man, sometimes to 
the danger of his choking. iW& 

Contentment. 
It is one property which, they say, 
is required of those that seek the phi- 
losopher's stone, that they must not do 
it with any covetous desire to be rich ; 
for otherwise they shall never find it. 
But most true it is, that whosoever 
would have this jewel of contentment, 



P>:arls of Th, 215 

(which turns all into gold, y 
into weal;--, must c >me with minds di- 
gested of all ambitious and eovet 

thoughts, else are they never likely to 
obtain it. FuV.* \ 

What Makes a Max ? 
Thz longer I live the more certain I 
am that the great difference etween 
men. the great and the insiguiueant. is 
energ — horn, sit le determination — an 
honest yurrose once hxed — and then 
the victory. That quality will do any 
thing that can he dm:e in the world : 
and no talents, no circumstances, no 
opportunity will make a two-legged 
creature without it. 

Thz Two Lives. 

BEArnxrL is old age— I eautiiul is the 

slow-drt :;:mg. mellow autumn of a rich 

and glorious summer. In the old : 

Nature has fulfilled her work : she 

rith the fruits o: a well- 



216 Pearls of Thought. 

spent life ; and, surrounded by his 
children's children, she rocks him softly 
away to a grave to which he is follow- 
ed with blessings. 

God forbid we should not call it 
beautiful, but not the most beautiful. 
There is another life, hard, rough, and 
thorny, trodden with bleeding feet and 
aching brow ; the life of which the 
cross is the symbol ; a battle which no 
peace follows this side the grave, which 
the grave gapes to finish before the 
victory is w r on ; and, strange that it 
should be so, this is the highest life of 
man. Look along the great names of 
history ; there are none whose life has 
been other than this. Anon. 

Domestic Happiness. 

The soul of domestic felicity depends, 

in a high degree, upon the character of 

woman. As well may we look for 

6pring and summer without sunshine 



Pearls of Thought, 217 

and showers, as to expect a truly happy 
family, without the full development 
of those affectionate and delicate sensi- 
bilities which make the crowning glory 
of the female character — not as we 
sometimes find it — but, as it should 
be ; and as proper development will 
make it. Anon. 

The Sabbath. 
The Sabbath is the golden clasp 
which binds together the volume of 
the week. Longfellow. 

Excesses of Youth. 
The excesses of youth are drafts upon 
old age, payable with interest, about 
thirty years after date. Colton. 

Sensuality. 
If sensuality be our only happi- 
ness, we ought to envy the brutes; 
for instinct is a surer, shorter, safer 
guide to such happiness, than reason. 



218 Pearls of Thought. 

Seneca asks, Who would so unman 
himself, could he have all the pleasures 
in the world for the asking, as to ac- 
cept them, and desert his soul, and be- 
come a perpetual slave to his senses ? 

Colton. 
Self-Conceit. 

None are so seldom found alone, and 
are so soon tired of their own company, 
as those coxcombs who are on the best 
terms with themselves. Ibid. 

The Enthusiast. 
The enthusiast has been compared 
to a man walking in a fog ; every thing 
immediately arround him, or in con- 
tact w T ith him, appears sufficiently clear 
and luminous ; but beyond the little 
circle, of which he himself is the cen- 
tre, all is mist, error, and confusion. 
Charity is contented with exhortation 
and example, — to persuade rather than 
persecute ; but zeal has usually more of 



Pearls of Thought. 219 

pride, and love of victory, rather than 
of truth. Colton. 

On Belief. 
He that will believe only what he 
can fully comprehend, must have a 
verv lon^ head, or a verv short creed. 

Ibid. 

Time and Eternity. 
He that will often put eternity and 
the world before him, and who will 
dare to look steadfastly at both of them, 
will find that the more often he con- 
templates them, the former will grow 
greater and the latter less. Ibid. 

Worldly Difficulties. 
This world cannot explain its own 
difficulties, without the assistance of 
another. Ibid. 

Human Applause. 
There are two things which ought 
to teach us to think meanly of human 



220 Pearls of Thought. 

glory; the very best have had their 
calumniators — the very worst their 
panegyrists. Colton. 

Fame. 

Fame is an undertaker that pays but 
little attention to the living, but be- 
dizens the dead, furnishes out their 
funerals, and follows them to the 
grave. Ibid. 

Poetry. 

Poetry has been to me its own " ex- 
ceeding great reward;" it has multi- 
plied and refined my enjoyments ; it 
has soothed my affliction ; it has en- 
deared solitude ; it has given me the 
habit of wishing to discover the good 
and the beautiful in all that meets and 
surrounds me. Coleridge. 

The Art of Learning. 
The chief art of learning, is to at- 
tempt but little at a time. The widest 
excursions of the mind are made by 



Pearls of Thought. 221 

short flights, frequently repeated ; the 
most lofty fabrics of science are formed 
by the continued accumulation of sin- 
gle propositions. LocJce 

Tears and Laughter. 
God made both tears and laughter, 
and both for kind purposes ; for as 
laughter enables mrrth and surprise 
to breathe freely, so tears enable sor- 
row to vent itself patiently. Tears 
hinder sorrow from becoming despair 
and madness, and laughter is one of 
the very privileges of reason, being 
confined to the human species. Anon. 

Love. 
Love is an alchymist that can trans- 
mute poison into food. Cotton. 

Divine Providence. 
To discover the proofs of a Divine 
Providence only in extraordinary cases, 
is to betray our ignorance and weak- 



222 Pearls of Thought. 

ness. In the ordinary course of nature 
we daily behold a thousand things, 
worthy in every respect, of our notice 
and admiration. The preservation of 
our life, considering the variety of 
causes and effects which combine to 
produce it, is not less astonishing than 
the resurrection of the dead. The only 
difference is that the one happens but 
seldom, whereas we are daily witnesses 
of the other, which, being so common 
a phenomenon, does not attract our at- 
tention, or sufficiently excite our ad- 
miration. The union of my soul and 
body, their reciprocal and continual 
action on each other, are incomprehen- 
sible, and do not depend either on my 
own will or power. The beating of 
the pulse, and the circulation of the 
different fluids are uninterruptedly car- 
ried on, without my being able to con- 
tribute to them in the smallest degree. 
Every thing convinces me that my 



Pearls of Thought. 223 



faculties, my condition, and the dura- 
tion of my being, are not dependent on 
my own pleasure. It is tlie Lord, who, 
by his secret and absolute power, pre- 
serves me in strength, motion, and ex- 
istence. Sturm. 

God's Glory in Creation. 
Why are the works of God so splen- 
did ? Why is there such magnificence 
in every thing we see ? Why do we 
behold such multifarious, such num- 
berless beauties, each object surpassing 
the other, and clothed with charms 1 
peculiar to itself? Why do I every 
where find new subjects of admiration 
and astonishment ? For this reason : 
that I may never cease to admire and 
adore that great Being, who is infi- 
nitely greater, more sublime, and more 
magnificent than any of the objects 
which he has presented to my senses ; 
that I might be led to this reflection: 



224 Pearls of Thought. 

If the works are so perfect, how glori- 
ous must be the maker of them ! If 
the beauty of that which he has created 
is inexpressibly great, infinitely greater 
must be that Being who surveys all 
creation at a single glance. The more 
my mind is here expanded and enlarg- 
ed by contemplating the greatest of all 
Beings, the more will it be capable of 
comprehending his grandeur and ma- 
jesty in a future state. Sturm. 

Our Intellectual Nature. 
We suppose that we carry our mo- 
ral nature to another world, why not 
our intellectual nature ? — further, why 
not our acquirements ? Is it probable 
that a man who has scorned here all 
advantages for commune with the 
works of God, is at once to be en- 
lightened, as if he had done his duty 
to the intelligence within him or about 
him ? It may be noticed that, as far 



Pearls of Thought. 225 

as we can discern, the same physical 
laws govern the most distant parts of 
creation as those which prevail here. 
Moreover, what we call Nature, or 
Providence, is thrifty as w r ell as liberal 
— has apparently given to man no more 
faculty than he fully needs. May not 
a similar divine frugality — perhaps an 
essential element for the furtherance of 
life, and the development of energy — 
pervade creation? Friends in Council. 

Cherished Thoughts. 
A iiA^ has something in himself to 
meet troubles and difficulties, small or 
great, who has stored in his mind some 
of the best things which have been said 
about troubles and difficulties. More- 
over, the loneliness of sorrow is there- 
by diminished. It need not be feared 
that a man whose memory is rich in 
such resources, will become a quoting 
pedant. Often the sayings which are 



226 Pearls of Thought. 

dearest to our hearts, are least frequent 
on our lips ; and those great ideas 
which cheer men in their direct strug- 
gles, are not things which they are 
likely to inflict by frequent repetition 
upon those they live with. There is a 
certain reticence with us as regards any 

thing we deeply love. 

Friends in Council. 

Folly of Affectation. 

Contentment abides with truth. And 

you will generally suffer for wishing to 

appear other than you are ; whether it 

be richer, or greater, or more learned. 

The mask soon becomes an instrument 

of torture. Ibid. 

Good Thoughts. 
In the course of our reading, we 
should lay up in our minds a store of 
goodly thoughts in well- wrought words, 
which should be a living treasure of 
knowledge always with us, and from 



~ 



Pearls of Thought. 227 

which, at various times, and amidst all 
the shifting of circumstances, we might 
be sure of drawimg some comfort, guid- 
ance, and sympathy. 

Friends in Council. 

Self- Control. 
Wouidest thou that thy flesh obey 
thy spirit I then let thy spirit obey thy 
God. Thou must be governed, that 
thou mayest govern. Augustine. 

Company. 
The company in which you will im- 
prove most, will be the least expensive 
to vou. Washington. 

Conscience. 
Labor to keep alive in your breast 
that little spark of celestial fire, called 
conscience. Ib&. 

Religion and Reason. 
Religion is as necessary to reason, 
as reason is to religion: the one cannot 



228 Pearls of Thought. 

exist without the other. A reasoning 
being would lose his reason, in attempt- 
ing to account for the great phenomena 
of nature, had he not a Supreme Be- 
ing to refer to : if there had been no 
God, mankind would have been oblig- 
ed to imagine one. Washington. 

Thinking. 
Thinking is the least exerted privi- 
lege of cultivated humanity. Evene. 

Calumny. 
To persevere in one's duty and be 
silent, is the best answer to calumny. 

Ibid. 
Doubting Christians. 

Professed Christians often get into 
a morbid state of mind about their 
personal salvation. The best cure yet 
offered for this disease is to transfer 
our solicitude from ourselves, and set 
bravely to work for the salvation of 
others. When we are incited to act for 



Pearls of Thought. 229 

God, all fears of his love to us at once 
cease. Anon. 

The Zealous Christian. 
I have had occasion to observe that 
a warm blundering man does more for 
the world than a frigid wise man. 
One who gets into a habit of inquiring 
about proprieties, and expediencies, and 
occasions, often spends his whole life 
without doing any thing to purpose. 

Cecil. 
Religion and the State. 
"Whilst just government protects all 
m their religious rites, true religion af- 
fords government its surest support. 

Washington. 

The Obstinate Man. 
An obstinate man does not hold 
opinions, but they hold him ; for when 
he is once possessed of an error, it is 
like a devil, only cast out with great 
difficulty. Whatsoever he lays hold 



230 Pearls of Thought. 

on, like a drowning man, he never 
loses, though it but help to sink him 
the sooner. Butler. 

Consolation. 
Before affliction is digested, consola- 
tion ever comes too soon ; and after it 
is digested, it comes too late ; there is 
but a mark between these two, as fine 
almost as a hair, for a comforter to 
take aim at. Sterne. 

Tempers. 
As we call our first language our 
mother tongue, so we may as justly 
call our first tempers our mother tem- 
pers ; and perhaps it may be found 
more easy to forget the language, than 
to part entirely with those tempers we 
learned in the nursery. Law. 

Honor. 
He is worthy of honor, who willeth 
the good of every man ; and he is much 



Pearls of Thought. 231 

unworthy thereof, who seeketh his own 
profit, and oppresseth others. Cicero. 

Soul Emblems. 
The soul on earth is an immortal guest, 
Compelled to starve at an unreal feast ; 
A spark that upward tends by nature's 

force, 
A stream diverted from its parent 

source ; 
A drop dissevered from the boundless 

sea, 
A moment parted from eternity ; 
A pilgrim panting for a rest to come, 
An exile anxious for his native home. 

More. 

Christian Grace Communicated. 
Christians are like the several flow- 
ers in a garden, that have each of them 
the dew of heaven, which being shaken 
with the wind, they let fall at each 
other's roots, whereby they are jointly 



232 Pearls of Thought. 

nourished, and become nourish ers of 
each other. Bunyan. 

Two Interesting Sights. 
Ln" our world there are two very in- 
teresting sights, — the one is that of the 
young disciple entering the church 
militant ; the other, that of the old 
disciple about to join the church tri- 
umphant. Anon. 

Infidelity — Its Cause. 
When a man is opposed to Chris- 
tianity, it is because Christianity is 
opposed to him. Ball. 

Believe and Live. 
O how unlike the complex works of 

man, 
Heaven's easy, artless, unencumbered 

plan! 
No meretricious graces to beguile, 
No clustering ornaments to clog the 

pile; 



Pearls of Thought. 233 

From ostentation as from weakness 

free, 
It stands like the cerulean arch we see, 
Majestic in its own simplicity. 
Inscribed above the portals from afar, 
Conspicuous as the brightness of a 

star, — 
Legible only bv the light they give, 
Stand the soul-quickening words — Be- 
lieve and live ! Covper. 

Feeling and Reason. 

The heart of man is older than his 
head : the first-born is sensitive but 
blind — his younger brother has a cold, 
but all-comprehensive glance. The 
blind must consent to be led by the 
clear-sighted, if he would avoid falling. 

Ziegler. 
God our Guard. 

Ah me ! how many perils do unfold 
The righteous man, to make him daily 
fall; 



234 Pearls of Thought. 

Were not that heavenly grace did him 

behold, 
And steadfast truth acquit him out of 

all. Spenser. 

Good and III Fortune. 
Uninterrupted sunshine would parch 
our hearts ; we want shade and rain to 
cool and refresh them. Anon. 

Adversity. 
Sweet are the uses of adversity, — 
Which, like the toad, ugly and ven- 
omous, 
Wears yet a precious jewel in its head. 

Shakspeare. 
Character. 
Actions, looks, words, steps, form the 
alphabet by which you may spell char- 
acter. Laxater. 
Flattery. 
Flattery is often a traffic of mutual 
meanness, where, although both par- 



Pearls of Thought. 235 

ties intend deception, neither are de- 
ceived. Colton. 
Friendship. 
Let friendship creep gently to a 
height ; if it rush to it, it may soon 
run itself out of breath. Fuller. 

Monuments. 
Tombs are the clothes of the dead ; 
a grave is but a plain suit, and a 
rich monument is one embroidered. 
Tombs ought in some sort to be propor- 
tioned, not to the wealth, but to the 
deserts of the party interred. The 
shortest, plainest, and truest epitaphs 
are best. When a passenger sees a 
chronicle written on a tomb, he takes 
it in trust some great man lies buried 
there, without taking pains to examine 
who it is. I say also the plainest ; for 
except the sense lie above ground, few 
will trouble themselves to dig for it. 
Lastly, it must be true, not as in some 



236 Pearls of Thought. 

monuments, where the red veins in 
the marble may seem to blush at the 
falsehood written on it. He was a 
witty man that first taught a stone to 
speak, but he was a wicked man that 
taught it first to lie. A good memory 
is the best monument ; others are sub 
ject to casualty and time ; and we 
know that the Pyramids themselves, 
doting with age, have forgotten the 
power of their founders. Let us be 
careful to provide rest for our souls, 
and our bodies will provide rest for 
themselves. Thomas Fuller. 

Goodness. 

True goodness is like the glow-worm, 
it shines most when no eyes, except 
those of heaven, are upon it. Anon. 

Sic Vita. 
Like to the falling of a star, 
Or as the flights of eagles are ; 



Pearls of Thought. 237 

,0r like the fresh spring's gaudy hue, 
Or silver drops of morning dew ; 
Or like a wind that chafes the blood, 
Or bubbles whiHi on water stood : — 
E'en such is man, whose borrowed 

light 
Is straight called in and paid to-night. 
The wind blows out, the bubble dies ; 
The spring entombed in autumn lies ; 
The dew dries up, the star is shot ; 
The flight is past — and man forgot ! 
Dr. Henry King. 

Free Will. 
We have a power to suspend the 
prosecution of this or that desire ; this 
seems to me the source of all liberty ; 
in this seems to consist that which is 
improperly called Free Will. Locke. 

The Daily Struggle. 
If we keep not God's grace that He 
giveth us — if we do not continually 



238 Pearls of Thought. 

and daily reform ourselves, and with, 
all diligence fashion our lives after His 
life, it is but right that we lose again 
that which we have lmeived. But if 
we abide in Him through faith, then 
hard and unprofitable things are light 
and possible to us ; for in Him that 
strengthened us we may do all things. 

Cover dale. 

Man's Medley. 
In soul he mounts and flies, in flesh he 

dies. 
He wears a stuff, whose thread is coarse 

and round, 
But trimmed with curious lace, and 

should take place 
After the trimming, not the stuff and 

ground. 
Not that he may not here taste of the 

cheer ; — 
But as birds drink, and straight lift up 

their head, 



Pearls of Thought. 239 

So must he sip, and think of better 

drink 
He may attain to after he is dead. 
Yet e'en the greatest may be reliefs, 
Could he but take them right, and in 

their ways. 
Happy is he whose heart hath found 

the art 
To turn his double pains to double 

praise. Herbert 

Humility and Pride. 
Humility is truth, and Pride a lie : 
the one glorifies God, the other dis- 
honors him. Humility makes men to 
be like angels, Pride makes angels to 
become devils. Taylor. 

A Good Man. 
He is a good man who grieves rather 
for him that injures him, than for his 
own suffering ; who sooner shows mer- 
cy than anger ; who offers violence to 



240 Pearls of Thought. 

I 

his appetite, in all things endeavoring 
to subdue the flesh to the spirit. This 
is an excellent abbreviative of the 
whole duty of a Christian. Taylor. 

Feigned Humility. 
He saw a cottage with double coach- 
house, 
A cottage of gentility ; 
And the devil did grin, for his darling 
sin — 
Is Pride that apes humility. 

Coleridge. 

The Mind. 
The Mind is heaven-born, and comes 
immediately out of the hands of God ; 
so that to speak properly, we are 
nearer related to the Supreme Being 
than to father and mother. Collier. 



I N 


D E 


X . 


PAGH 




Ambition, False 




12 


Advice 


. 




29 


Afflictions 






59, 134 


Angels 


• 




68 


Abstinence . 






. 72 


Adversity, Benefits of 


. 




78 


Angelic Beings 






78 


Aspiration 


. 




93 


Affection 






99 


Actions, Good 


. 




101 


Angelic Ministries 






. 109 


Approbation of God 


. 




121 


Afflictions, Use of 






126 


Abuse of Terms 


# 




168 


Abuses 






m 


Abilities 


. 




178 


Aids to Religion 






. 180 


Accusations of Conscience 




184 


Art of Learning 






220 


Affectation, Folly of 


. 




226 


Adversity 






234 


Bible, the 






49 


Besetting Sin 


• 




100 


Bad Company 






113 


Beauty 

1 


. 1 


14, 179 



242 Index. 




PAGE 


Benefactions 


. 123 


Body, the 


160 


Brains and Reasoning 


. 177 


Body, subjection of . 


205 


Belief 


. 219 


Believe and Live . 


232 


Church, the 


7 


Circumspection 


11, 49 


Contentment . 


13, 37, 51, 214 


Christian's Course, the 


. 14, 52 


Christ, Knowledge of 


17 


Communion with God 


19 


Christian Duty 


23 


Christ's Yoke 


23 


Christian Counsel . « 


32 


Censure 


44 


Christians like Stars 


61 


Character 


63 


Conversation 


71 


Christian, the 


72, 131 


Courage .... 


88 


Christian Progress . 


89 


Cross, the 


98 


Close of Life . 


. 103 


Christianity 


105 


Constant Prayer 


. 109 


Confession 


111 


Charity, 


. 128,137, 138 


Christian Charity 


130 


Cheerfulness in Age . 


. 146 


Content .... 


147 


Covetous Man, the . 


. 152 


Conscience 


. 171, 227 


Consciousness 


. 172 



Index. 


243 


PAGE 

Choice of Books . . . 172,, 186, 192 


Christian Evidences . 


. 181 


Character, a Test 


182 


Christian Graces 


, 203 


Curiosity ..... 


214 


Cherished Thoughts . 


, 225 


Company ..... 
Calumny .... 


227 
, 228 


Consolation .... 


230 


Christian, the Zealous 


229 


Christian Grace communicated . 


231 


Character .... 


234 


Divine Inspiration 

Divine Life .... 


9 
9 


Death ... 21, 24, 48, 


90, 110 


Divine Influences 


22 


Divine Decrees, the 


38 


Death and Life . 


46 


Duties ..... 


53 


Divine Manifestations 


67 


Deformity .... 


84 


Despair ..... 

Dangerous Friendships . 

Death— Life ..... 


86 
117 

124 


Dissimulation .... 


141 


Daily Duties .... 


148 


Daily Reckoning .... 


149 


Dead Sinners .... 


159 


Double-minded .... 


179 


Danger of Prosperity 
Divine Redeemer 


184 
189 


Domestic Happiness .... 
Divine Providence 


216 

221 


Doubting Christians • 


22S 


^ ... 


i 



244 Index. 




■ 


PAGE 


Envy .... 


30 


Emulation . 


87 


Economy of Time 


118 


Earthly Treasure 


. 125 


Evil Company 


139 


Error 


. 177 


Evidence of Grace 


203 


Excesses of Youth 


. 217 


Enthusiast, the . 


218 


Emblems, Soul 


. 231 


Faith and Works 


. 11, 74, 187 


Fame, worthy 


31 


Friendship, sincere . 


35 


Friends, choice of 


36, 48 


Fortitude . . 


58 


Fear of Man 


63 


Fame 


. 69, 186, 220 


Frequent Prayer . • 


76 


Fear of Evil . 


85 


Forgiveness 


88 


Fear of Death 


97 


Fear of Sinning . 


117 


Fluency of Speech . 


. 174 


False Doctrine 


197 


Free-Thinkers 


. 208 


Faith and Practice 


210 


Following Providence 


. 210 


Feeling and Reason 


233 


| Flattery . 


. 234 


Fortune, good and ill • . 


234 


Friendship 


235 


Free Will . 


. 237 


Feigned Humility 

i . , 


. 240 



Index. 


245 




PAGB 


Good Conscience . 


10 


Gospel, Objectors to . 


28 


God ... 


. 31, 119 


Good Men 


32 


Good and Evil 


40 


God, Ignorance of 


55 


Goodness . 


95 


Good Deeds . 


. 114 


Greatness of God 


115 


Godliness 


. 162 


Goodness of God 


163 


God and the World . 


193 


God, Knowledge of 


194 


Grace, Evidence of . 


. 203 


Graces, Christian . 


203 , 


Grave Thoughts 


. 211 


God's Glory in Creation . 


223 


Good Thoughts 


. 226 


Goodness . 


236 


God our Guard 


. 233 


Humility , 


8, 36, 155, 157 


Hypocrisy 


13 


Holy Life 


20, 45 


Hope 


65 


Honesty of Purpose 


70 


Human Aspirations . 


80 


Heavenly Home, our 


91 


Holy Scripture 


98 


Human Impotency 


108 


Happiness Found only in God 


. 131 


Heavenly-Mindedness 


. 127, 204 


Happiness . . . 


131, 179 


Humility, Christian 


141 


Humility, Feigned . . 


144, 240 







246 Index. 




PAGE 


1 Hypocrisy in Religion 


. 158 


Heart, the 


160 


Heart-Work . 


. 161 


Human Reason . 


162 


Head and Heart 


. 199 


Hope and Experience 


210 


Human Applause 


. 219 


Honor 


230 


Humility and Pride . 


. 239 


Impenitence . 


. 33, 49 


Indolence 


42, 65 


Incessant Changes 


81 


Immortality 


87 


Intemperance 


89 


Instability 


92 


] Intellectual Pleasures 


96 


Improvement of Time 


96 


Ignorance 


101, 178 


Idleness . 


111, 165, 207 


Ideas 


. 169 


! Industry . 


170 


Indecision 


. 188 


Imitation . 


194 


Ills of Life, the 


. 209 


1 Infidelity — its Cause 


232 


Judicious Silence . 


110 


Jesus 


. 138 


Knowledge of Christ . 


. 17 


Knowledge and Faith 


122 


Knowledge . 


. 170 


Knowledge of God 


194 



Index. 247 


PAGE 


Love and Prayer . • 9 


Life Checkered . 




28 


Life, Brevity of 










34 


Little Sins . . 










60, 143 


Life, a Dream 










. 76 


Life's Journey . . 










85 


Love of our Neighbor 










92 


Life, Object of 










104 


Life, Fleeting 










. 104 


Life, how Fed 










118 


Love of God . 










. 120 


Liberty . 










176 


Leisure Hours 










. 188 


1 Life like a River . 










206 


Life a Shadow 










. 211 


Learning, Art of . , 










220 


i Love . 










. 221 


Meditation 










7, 67, 93 


Mental Elevation 










32 


Maliciousness 










46 


Moderation . 








. 5< 


), 120, 214 


Mental Faculty . 










59 


Malice 










. 73 


Mystery of Creation 










79 


Moral Warfare 










. 102 


Modesty of Learning 










104 


Mind, the 








10 


5, 198, 240 


Memory . 










112, 171 


Mercy 










125, 204 


• Meditation of Truth 










132 


Moral Consciousness . 










. 137 


Man's Immortality 










141 


Morning Devotions . 










. 151 


Moral Beauty 
1 






155 



248 Index. 




PAGE 


Modesty- 


. 157 


Men's Hearts 


168 


Men seldom Reason . 


. 175 


Momentous Questions 


175 


Manners Contagious . 


. 178 


Moral Insensibility 


185 


Mental Activity 


. 188 


Mental Destitution 


199 


Mental Influence 


. 199 


Monuments 


235 


Man's Medley 


. 238 


Man, a Good 


239 


Narrow Way, the 


29 


Nature, Book of 


40 


National Religion . . 


107 


Neglect of the Soul . 


. 123 


Never too late to mend . 


147 


Opportunity . 


40 


Obedience 


75 


Our Intellectual Nature 


. 224 


Obstinate Man 


229 


Prayer . . 12, 26, 5( 


), 62, 84, 161, 191 


Piety and Atheism 


20 


Piety, Triumphs of . 


38 


Pride .... 


. 43, 208 


Pharisee and Publican 


53 


Pleasures, Fleeting 


54 


Profession and Possession 


55 


Prayer and Desire 


66 


Praise and Blame 


66 


Parental Deportment 


77 


Power of Temptation 


82 
s 



Index. 249 


PAGE 


Patience under Injuries ... 90 


Perfect through Suffering 


99 


Preservative against Sin . 






100 


Penalties of Poverty . 






100 


Personal Responsibility . 






103 


Pleasure 






105 


Pleasantry 






106 


Pity . 






116 


Pride and Charity 






122 


Procrastination 






134 


Pleasures in Religion 






154 


Perseverance 






163 


Profession not Practice . 






166 


Principles 






169 


Probation 






183 


Physiognomy 






187 


Pilgrim-Life 






197 


Passions, Subjection of 






198 


Penalties of Vice . 






198 


Procrastination in Religion , 






212 


Poetry 


220 


Repentance . 11, 24, 44, 


85, 108, 195, 198 


Remorse . 


15 


Religious Progress . 


IT 


Religion . 


. 29, 132 


Resolution and Reformation 


50 


Rebuke, friendly . 


51 


Religion and Reason 


. 52, 143, 227 


Reason and Sense 


57 


Reflection 


57 


Resurrection 


91 


Repentance of Sin . 


. 110 


Reconciliation 


113 


Renunciation of Sin .... 121 

L . — - — _ 1 



250 Index. 


PAGE 

Rebuke, Use of . 


Resurrection reflected 




. 135 


Recollection in Religion 






154 


Rules of Living 






. 158 


Repentance and Faith 
Religion and the State 






183 
. 229 


Sin, Sorrow for . 






14 


Self-Conceit . 






25, 218 


Spiritual Influences 
Self-Esteem . 






27 
33 


Self-Control 






34, 121, 227 


Soul's Heraldry, the . 
Spiritual Progression 
Sin, Detection of 






. 37 

41 
43 


Sin, the Bitterness of 






45 


Sin, the Poison of 






47 


Sense and Reason 






54 


Selfishness 






58, 97 


Self-Inspection 
Soul and Body 
Simplicity and Purity 
Self-Scrutiny . 
Sinful Habits 






62 
64, 162 

112 
. 117 

119 


Slander 






. 126 


Self-Government . 






128 


Study of the Scriptures 
Soul, the . 






. 129 
134 


Saying and Doing 
Seeing — Believing 
Self-Praise 






. 139 

140 

. 145 


Sabbath Duties . 






150 


Studies 






. 151 


Simile, a . 






153 


Social Intercourse 


. 157 



Index. 251 


PAGE 


Skepticism .... 163 


Self-Deception 




. 165 


Sure Foundation . 








167 


Self-Love 








. 176 


Self-Denial 








184 


Soul, Value of 








. 201 


Spiritual Blindness 








203 


Subjection of the Body 








. 205 


Sabbath, the 








217 


Sensuality 








. 217 


Soul Emblems 








231 


Sights, Two .Interesting 








. 232 


Sic Vita . 








236 


Struggle, the Daily . 








. 237 


Time 








10, 86 


Theology 








25 


True Honor 








34 


Time, Value of 








35 


Thoughts . 








56 


Thankfulness 








62, 213 


True Courage 








107 


True Religion 








. 115 


To-Day — To-Morrow 








126 


True Knowledge 








. 158 


Thoughts for the Closet 








196 


True Christian, the . 








. 200 


Temptation 








202 


The Two Lives 








. 215 


Time and Eternity 








219 


Tears and Laughter . 








. 221 


Thinking . 








228 


Tempers 




. 230 


Use of Rebuke 




41 



252 



Index. 



Use of Affliction . 
Unregenerate, the 
Virtue 

Virtue and Vice 
Virtuous, the 
Vain-Glory . 
Vice, Penalties of 
Value of the Soul 

Win of God, the . 
Worldly Pleasures 
"Worldly Loss 
We are not our own 
Way of Life, the . 
Wages of Sin 
Wealth . 
Wanton Jests 
World's Favor, the 
Watchfulness 
What makes a Man 
Worldly Difficulties 



PAGE 
126 

127 

18, 83, 130, 135 
116, 197 
133 
145 
198 
201 

15 

45 

47 

71 

84 

97 

107 

108 

136 

209 

215 

219 



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